"Slow Dance"

I received a forwarded e-mail earlier today. It included a poem that was written by a teenager terminally ill with cancer. (Her name was not listed).

SLOW DANCE

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won'tlast.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask How are you?
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won'tlast.

Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a goodfriendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say,'Hi'
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won'tlast.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift.... Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

The poem hits me in so many ways. I see myself in it in so many places. How often to I tell my kids I can't do something because I'm busy cleaning? How often do I pass up an opportunity to be kind to someone? How often to I spend my day hurrying around trying to get everything done. How often do I think of my friends and family but don't take the time to call them or send a card?

How seldom do I take the time to know what really makes my husband and family happy and then do it? How seldom do I take the time each day to enjoy the simple beauty around me? How seldom do I take the time to just sit and listen to my kids? How seldom do I take the time to just be, rather than doing?

I want to take time to enjoy the little things each day, to see true smiles of happiness on my kids' faces, really listen when others are speaking, spend more time on spiritual things, and be a good friend to those that mean so much to me.