Slow, Slow. Quick, Quick, Slow

"I am a slow walker, but I never walk backwards."
-Abraham Lincoln

Within the last two weeks my Spouse and I learned to slow down a little; we will get where we want to go, just not so quickly. Two weeks ago my Spouse began to complain of terrible pain. After a few days when it did not vanish, my Spouse became really ill and had to go to the emergency room at the local hospital.
Yesterday was the first day that Spouse ventured out into a crowd and attempted to walk. We went to a shopping mall which, given that it was Thanksgiving weekend, was bustling with eager shoppers out for a clever bargain.
I am a super fast walker by nature and it was nearly impossible for Spouse to keep pace with me. I had to be told to slow down numerous times. Finally I trained myself to count each step: "Step one. Walk. Step two. Walk. Step three. Walk." and stay a marginal distance behind my Spouse. It was hard work; I had forgotten the art of walking with slowness. It provides, when one can manage to do it well, a different vision of a shopping mall and of the people that fill it. It offers time to reflect on the futility of the shopping season as well as the unfathomable amounts of money that are spent every minute. I don't doubt that we were the shuffling slow pair that held everybody up. We quite possibly, though, were the only two truly enjoying ourselves and stress-free.