Well, here in Bourbonnais today we're getting freezing rain and drizzle. So, Terry and I have chosen to stay in, and are watching the Monk marathon on the USA Network. That's a great way to spend the day for two tired, old people.

It made me think of a couple of things. One, we don't slow down very often. It's usually the weather that shuts us down, anymore. When we can't move, when we have to stop, that's when we slow down. Terry said this morning that our stopping has made her realize how tired she is. I look for excuses to slow down at times, and I suppose the weather isn't really that bad yet, but it has given us the opportunity, or excuse, to stop, and that's what we've chosen to do.

That leads me to my second thought, that when we do slow down, we usually feel guilty. We've already had the conversation this morning about whether it's okay to not go to church, even when the weather makes travel difficult. Maybe we don't slow down because we don't know how. We don't live in a society that makes room in it's schedule for rest. I live in a building filled with 50 college students, and the activity at all hours of the night remind me that the patterns of activity are set very early in our lives. We don't stop, because we don't know how to stop.

The last little thought regarding this, is that we when we do slow down, we don't do it well. Is watching a Monk marathon the "right" way to slow down? The fact that I'm asking that question shows me even when slowing down, there is a checklist of things that I need to accomplish that make slowing down worthwhile. Maybe a day of nothing every now and then is good for the soul.

I remember as a kid, the best news we could receive in the morning was that school was canceled because of the weather. It meant a break from our routine; a day of play, usually in the fresh snow; sleeping in; or as an adult, sitting at you computer in your boxers and t-shirt at 10:30 in the morning, writing about how much I'm looking forward to doing nothing.

Well, I guess since I've begun to work on my list of things to do, I can feel better that this day of stoppage created by freezing rain is not a total waste. Monk is waiting.