Slow drivers drive me nuts. I am always in a hurry. I am always, what you could call, fashionably late. I get it from my mother. If we have to be somewhere at noon, we’ll leave at 11:57.
One of my favorite quotes is from the Princess Diaries.
“A queen is never late, everyone else is simply early.”
This is my motto. And it annoys some people. More than once I’ve gotten texts to “dammit Maddie, hurry up”.
I have two modes really. In one mode, I have no sense of urgency. I’ll get there when I get there, and I’ll stop to smell the flowers along the way. In the other, I am a tornado. I’m flying down the stairs and out the door faster than a hobo jumping on a ham sandwich. I don’t like this mode as much. It’s stressful. Stress causes wrinkles, and I do not want wrinkles.
When I’m in tornado mode, I tend to speed. I know this is a bad habit, I really do. And I apologize. But when my first hour class starts in four and a half minutes, I don’t have time for 60 miles an hour.
But that Honda in front of me doesn’t know that I’m late. For all I know, they’re in “stop and smell the flowers” mode, and singing to Jimmy Buffet as they set cruise control right at 60. I can ride their rear all I want, but it doesn’t get me anywhere.
I learned two things today. One, I need to leave earlier. That’s a simple fix to the problem, but it’s easier said than done. When you change your outfit seven times, it’s hard to get out the door on time. And two, if you’re going to be late, might as well slow down and enjoy it. Check out the sunrise, listen to your favorite radio station, and for God’s sake, take your lead foot off the gas pedal.
Another one of my favorite movie quotes is from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around for a while, you could miss it”.
So from now on, I’m going to try and stop speeding so much. Slow down, enjoy the little things, even if that makes me a few minutes late. But please, give me at least 65 on the highway.
– Maddie