SLOW is the (green) way to go...

OK. It's been a while since I got real and shared a green confession. But here goes.

My biggest hurdle to sticking with my e-conscious way of living is the speed at which I go through life.

And I'm not just talking about the fact that it pains me to go 55-60 miles per hour on the highway even though I KNOW that is going to reap the best rewards in terms of gas mileage. I set the cruise to 59 and SLOW down until I realize I'm five minutes late to my time management meeting (only slightly kidding)!

Why is it so hard to slow down?! It's why I have scratches on almost every single one of my fingers and my ankles (I nearly ran over my entire foot today rolling a shelving cart in the library!). I hit the ground running. I've always been this way. And I'm not alone. We are moving SO fast these days.

I remember my parents sitting me down when I was in elementary school, explaining to me that I need to SLOW DOWN and listen to ALL the directions. My teachers were saying I get up and run away mid-sentence. "Like right now!" I remember my exasperated parents saying mid-lecture. I was getting up to go back outside to play.

I get things done by rushing. It's the reason I'm able to be a library assistant, then a mom, then Betty. Case in point I wait until the last minute to think about what is for dinner and end up buying a farm-raised fish --on the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch list, yes -- but it's been flown halfway across the globe, for Earth's sake!

I cut corners, I pause through stop signs, I forget to sign the homework, and I let unmended clothes pile up. I'm not proud of it, but would I really be here as Bettty if I didn't?

All rationalizing aside, tonight I'm slowing down.

Once again it comes from the prompting of my favorite eco-inspirations in the world: one of my adorable sons.

"Mom, you said you would sew that weeks ago!"

"Yup. Pinky promise - I'm doing it tonight."

So I dig out the needle and thread and here I sit, sewing the cuff of my son's favorite jacket (a hand me down from his older friend Stephen) and planning the next few meals deliberately, slowly, consciously so I can actually slip into hugging the tree instead of slamming into it head first. Aaaahhhh. That's better.

BWB