On Saturday with the forecasted snow of Friday I planned nothing more than to stay home, tucked away indoors with nothing at all to do. It was nice, and even though the snowfall wasn’t debilitating, I still didn’t go anywhere or do much of anything because I had made up my mind I just wasn’t ‘gonna.

It was nice, all the snow. And considering what was dumped south of us and on the east coast, we were pretty lucky to get just the smattering of winter we did.

A friend of mine, in anticipation of the late-week weather, posted on Facebook that wintry weather perhaps is one of those things that makes us slow down, whether we want to or not.

I had never thought of it like that, but what she had to say made a whole lot of sense to me.

We are all so busy all the time, so many proverbial irons in the fire and all, that slowing down never seems like an option. But sometimes, we are forced to grind to a halt for a while and that is a very good thing.

Life moves quickly enough without it being turned to a blur because we are too busy to notice all the things that make life beautiful.

Think about it. Have you ever heard from an elderly person, slowed themselves by the age that has crept up on them, that they wished they had worked more? Likely not. Their regrets, I’ll wager, tend to be more along the lines of having loved more, laughed more, taken everything a little less seriously, and maybe even having taken more chances.

I, like most of us, have a lot on my plate, and I have been trying to whittle those things down some, to have what’s on my plate be able to fit on something more like a salad plate than the needed serving platter.

When you are so busy, so distracted because there is just too much to keep track of, it is hard to remember to even take a breath, let alone take the time to spend with your family and even yourself.

It is scary how quickly time moves, and that really hit me full force a year or so ago when I realized that I am looking middle age squarely in the face.

Each day gets eaten up with work, appointments, getting kids here and there, feeding the family, and then getting the kids to bed at a sensible hour so I can fall into my own exhaustion only to begin it all anew the next morning. The weekends tend to get swallowed with taking care of the house, the laundry, and the grocery shopping. So when a snow day comes along, yeah, I’ll gladly slow down.

It’s always my goal on the weekend to carve out at least a few hours to stay in my pajamas and let my mind wind down, turn off. That is not always easily accomplished, but I try. And a good bit of snow on the ground just makes it a little easier, because everybody is slowed down, at least some.

Our lives are full of beauty. Let us not let it pass us by and leave us wondering where all the time went. You have time right this minute, so take a breath. Take a few minutes for yourself. Do it every day, even just a moment to notice a bird on the tree outside your window, to appreciate the colors of a sunrise, or to notice how your kid sings when they think no one is listening. Don’t wait for a snow day, do it now because right now is what you have got.

Reach Angela Shepherd at 937-393-3456, ext. 1681, or on Twitter @wordyshepherd.