What's the rush? Probably one of the best gifts I've ever been given. And it was delivered with so much love and so much caring and so subtly, at the time, I didn't even realize that it was a gift.
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What's the rush? Probably one of the best gifts I've ever been given. And it was delivered with so much love and so much caring and so subtly, at the time, I didn't even realize that it was a gift.
I've lived in two locations that had stunningly beautiful but dangerous roads. First, I lived in Placerville, California. Highway 50, that went from Placerville, the Gold Rush town, up over the mountains, up over the Sierras to Lake Tahoe. I drove that at least once a week.
The other is Highway 26 from Seaside, Oregon to Portland. Both of these have rivers running along. They're absolutely stunningly gorgeous drives. It's just mind blowingly gorgeous.
But... I say my youth, my God, I was in my fifties when this happened.
I tended my whole life to always be in a rush... these were roads that were two lane roads, one lane each direction, and every so often there'd be a passing lane that maybe was a mile long. Both of them.
I used to position myself so that I could pass quickly on the passing lanes because... and you might recognize this driver, but I don't know... I don't know why there are so many of these drivers. But on the curves, they go 25, 30 miles an hour and you can't get around them. I mean, the road is too narrow, it's way too dangerous to pass them on the curves. But once they hit the straightaway, they punch it to 80.
I don't understand that driving. I never have understood that driving. I never will understand that driving as opposed to a consistent speed.
So I'd get behind these people and boy, I would position myself, cause I knew they were gonna punch it at 80, but I had to punch it before them and zip over to the left lane and get around them as quickly as I could.
So I was always driving. Not really enjoying the beauty of these two incredible roads.
One day I'm going like a bat outta hell going around somebody... and I hate the curves and I'm doing the regular speed somebody would normally do on the curves, 45, 50 miles an hour, whatever. And from the back seat, my business partner Dick... peggy was riding with us also. We were, I think we're going over the alpaca ranch to pick up alpacas.
All of a sudden from the backseat, Dick just says, what's the rush Dave?
It kind of stopped me cold in my mind. First I was a little kerfuflled, like, how dare you? What are you talking about?
And then I thought, What is the rush?
It wasn't like there was a deadline. It wasn't like I was trying to get any place.
He didn't say anymore. He didn't have to. The message had been delivered, and that message changed my life.
As I thought on it more and more and more. I thought, what is the rush? Why am I rushing headlong through life rather than slowing down and enjoying the beautiful scenery?
And I do this now we get lot of tourists in the Pacific Northwest where I live, a lot of people that going over the Astoria Meglar Bridge... they go 30, 35 miles an hour, even though it's a 55, 60 mile an hour bridge. And I realize what they're doing. They're just mesmerized by the beauty.
Well, I've learned to enjoy that with them.
I look at that as a gift. When they slow down, it forces me to slow down. So rather than getting right on their bumper and pushing them, being all disgruntled, I say, yeah, let me look at the view with you. Oh my God, look where we live. I've said this often and I still think about it often.
I will look at Peggy when we're driving around because I do take my time and breathe and look around at this beautiful, beautiful, beautiful place we live. I tell Peggy, I said, my God, if we were on vacation, we would be scamming with everything we've got and how we could move here.
Well, we've got the gift of living here. We've been here for 22 years, and every day, every day we are so grateful and every day I'm grateful to my partner Dick, God rest his soul, for that gift he gave me of that one simple statement. What's the rush, Dave?
So I'm asking you, what's the rush?
What's the rush?
May you move well, stay healthy, be happy. Live every single day with purpose and passion, and may you love your life, and may you find out how good it feels to feel good.