A Snail's pace

Sometimes I feel like I'm traveling at a snail's pace...I may still get to that end result- the house, partner, 2.5 kids, but it still feels light years away and all my friends are cheetahs...and I'm just a snail. Excuse me, they are a "Peregrine Falcon," which is apparently the fastest animal on earth, "reaching speeds between 99 and 273 miles per hour (440 kilometers per hour) when diving." But who the hell's ever heard of that?? And that's a bird anyway, so I'm going with the fastest LAND animal, which I was correct in saying, is the Cheetah. Yikes! Did you know that the American Cockroach is one of the fastest running insect in the world?? So gross..SO not comparing my friends to cockroaches, so Cheetahs and snails it is.
Yesterday I watched this snail on this 4X4 foot slab of concrete that is outside my back door. It was moving SO slow. And it left this slime path behind. Like leaving its mark on the world. To let us know it was here. The cool thing is that it never gave up. It made it halfway through the space then turned around and went back the way it came. It didn't care. It even persisted on and didn't retreat back into its shell when a jerk (aka me) poked it's eye with a blade of grass. It's eye retracted, but then popped right back out again and it kept on moving. Now when I really rocked it's world and picked it up by it's shell, it did go inside and even when placed on the ground, it didn't emerge for several minutes. Like me, it hides in it's shell and waits until it's 100% sure it's okay to come out again. I don't really feel like I hide away in my home, because I love being in my home and creating and writing and listening and observing and contemplating...but sometimes when I go out and I don't know anyone or just one person but they are off talking to someone else, I do hide in my shell. I put up an invisible shield, much like Harry Potter's Invisibility cloak, and I assume no one can see me, as evidenced to no one talking to me. But it's cool. I'm okay with that. I want someone who will accept me for who I am, shy snail and all.
Maybe the world values money and success and beauty above all else, but in the "Christian" world families are the gems. Perfect wifie and hubby and obedient children are the specials on the menu. Some churches try to include singles, but it's clear that families are what sells. They are the most important investment. It's clearly the goal of every single person in a singles group- "must find mate." And it can't help but feel like it's the goal of the church as a whole. And don't even get me started as to why they separate girls and guys into community groups and only in the singles department. I don't see them separating the widowed senior citizens by gender! For someone intimidated by more than about 3 people, you can see why a large group event as my only option in mixing with the opposite gender, is not only daunting, but pretty impractical for an introvert like myself. So I stay away from those places nowadays. And that's all I have to say about that.
I checked back outside and the snail is back. Where it went today, I don't know. Maybe to visit its cousins by the air conditioning vent, maybe to find some sweet eats over by the ant hill, regardless, it's back on it's mission of slowly slurping away on that 4X4 foot piece of concrete, going to the end and back again. Maybe we all go in circles at some point in our lives. Maybe I feel like I'm going nowhere and everyone else is going "somewhere" but in actuality, we're all standing still. That makes no sense, I just felt like saying it. Regardless on when or how, I suppose we all get "somewhere" someday. It's not always exactly like we picture it. Maybe that snail was hoping he'd in a backyard with a view of the ocean where he can meet a wirely crab named Bob. But he's here. In my backyard. And I'm here. In good 'ol Texas. Yee haw. At least for now. Maybe one day I'll be somewhere else. Maybe one day I'll be WITH someone else, besides myself. But I do know that I'm moving at the pace that is right for me and that's good enough for me. At least in this moment. Maybe I'll evolve into a rabbit. They're pretty fast...at least when they're not racing turtles...
OK. Until next time...

Here's a quote from the office, just cuz it's about a snail. Michael: "I tried to talk to Toby and be his friend, but that is like trying to be friends with an evil snail."  :o)