SoCS: Hurry Up!

Linda G. Hill gave us quite the prompt for this week’s Stream of Consciousness post:

“Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is ‘ask someone else.’ Either ask someone for a prompt word or, if you can’t, turn on a TV or a radio and choose a word from the first sentence you hear. Enjoy!”

I was alone in the apartment at the time I read Linda’s prompt.

So, I turned on the TV.

There was Festus on the big screen, an installment of Gunsmoke playing on TVland. The first words out of the character’s mouth was, “Hurry up!” 

I thought about changing the channel and trying again. “Hurry up” is the complete antithesis of what this past week has been.

I’ve been on vacation since the afternoon of December 21st, living somewhere between human and cat.

I took a page out of Ziva’s book and slept in until almost 9:00 am one morning. Actually, I was awake at 8:00, but so warm and cozy that I couldn’t make myself get up. Ziva’s purrs and cuddles didn’t help matters.

Oh, there was some hurrying the weekend before Christmas, with last-minute grocery and gift shopping, but that may have been caffeine induced or simply my attempt to relax over Christmas and the remainder of this week.

The holidays have been wonderful, spending time with friends, my mom and celebrating the birth of Jesus at church. It gave me reason to sit the afternoon of Christmas Day and add a page of journaling to my bible. As I am not an artsy person when it comes to drawing people and things, bible journaling is also a good excuse to use scrapbooking supplies.

I was not in a hurry during this activity, but could have paid closer attention to the brush strokes on the right side of the page. I’ll call it a character flaw that adds…character.

Since Christmas Day, I’ve done the sleeping-in thing, the laying-around-in-pajamas-until-noon (or later) thing, and the catching-up-with-old-friends thing in a non-hurried fashion. Slow and easy, I wouldn’t want to pull a muscle or increase the metabolism.

There was also the go-out-and-have-a-beer-or-two-with-the-neighbor thing.

There’s absolutely no rush when it comes to sampling beer and catching up with a friend who lives across the hall. Blondie and I enjoyed a few hours of good food, conversation and the beverage that comes from a microbrewery.

I even ate slow. My mom has told me numerous times over the years that I eat too fast. Dad, brother and I all had this affliction. Mom enjoyed her food at more of a snail’s pace while the three of us wolfed our vittles down like it was the last meal or we hadn’t eaten in three days.

I wrote “vittles” as that is what Festus was after in the Gunsmoke episode. “Hurry up and fetch them vittles!” Unfortunately, the guy in charge forgot the vittles, so Festus had to serve coffee and hard tack to the small group of hungry cowboys. Bummer.

The guys would have enjoyed salmon and asparagus…right? Wouldn’t that have been better or is fish too sissy for cowboys? No matter, I’ll be making this new recipe as soon as I buy salmon and asparagus, but I’m not in a hurry. The freezer is currently full, as is the fridge, so it will have to wait. It sounds good though.

In between the laid-back adventures of Cat Woman, the human woman took time to read. I finished “The Tattooist of Auschwitz,” by Heather Morris. Excellent book, based on a true story of two people who survived that horrible place with love and determination. I consider it one of the top three books I read in 2018.

I’ve slowed my reading pace since summer, trying to get back in the swing of regular visits to the gym and the yoga studio. I was not in a hurry to start up again, but had to do it for my own well-being. Besides being cat-like in my laziness, the extra pounds were not going away and I felt out of sorts. Yucky, actually. I’ve slowly made progress, but have to stay determined through the winter months – the months when us northerners would rather be home hibernating and not moving too fast.

Hibernating like a cat in a new cat tree. Hibernating in new flannel jammies under the warm covers on a cold winter’s day. Relaxing. Eating. Reading. Not thinking of work or being in a hurry to do anything other than turn on the coffee pot and watch old TV westerns.

While Festus yells, “Hurry up,” I sit on the couch and respond, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever…”

I’m taking it slow and easy, buddy.

Slow and easy…

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Stream of Consciousness Saturday is the brainchild of author Linda G. Hill. Every Friday, Linda provides her followers with an inspiring blogger’s prompt. It can be a word or words and sometimes bonus points are involved (my favorite). Linda asks us to write without editing, other than correcting spelling errors.

Just go with the flow.

Like a babbling brook, ambling stream or running river. Click HERE if this type of writing floats your boat or helps with your decision-making.