“I must hurry on way. No time for a delay”
I often visited a friend of mine who lived in a nursing home. She was born and raised in the Cataloochee Valley, in what is now the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP). Shortly before the area became a part of GSMNP she, along with her family, moved to the Maggie Valley/Jonathan Creek section of Haywood County. When she reached adulthood she got a job at Dayco (then known as Dayton Rubber Company in Waynesville, NC); where she worked for almost 40 years. When she retired she was able to remain in her own home for about 20 years; until failing health caused her to move into the nursing home. For the past 15 years she has made the nursing home “her home” and the staff of the facility “her family”. Up until a couple of years ago, she left the facility only when one (or both) of her sons would take her to a nearby restaurant where she could enjoy a favorite meal; featuring fried chicken livers. However, her deteriorating health no longer allows her to leave the facility. In fact, she mostly stays in her room; reading.
Whenever I visited, I tried to plan to have enough time for a visit with her. Her positive disposition and optimistic attitude allowed the visits to be enjoyable. She shared wonderful stories, mostly of her days while growing up in Cataloochee and of working “at the rubber factory” (aka- Dayco). Being able to know her as well as I did is a wonderful gift that I have been given. In fact, she inspired me to try to age as well as she is aging, and to be like she is in her relationships with those around her. She did lots of living in her 90 plus years.
Unfortunately, one of my last visits with her was entirely too short. It was obvious she was in the mood for a good, long conversation; but, I was in a hurry. I had a limited amount of time. There was someplace I needed to be- SOON! I was saying to myself, “I must hurry on my way. No time for a delay”. Much too quickly, I bid my farewell and headed off someplace else.
As I have looked back on that brief encounter I have thought of the rabbit from “Alice In Wonderland”. Do you remember him? He was hurrying around saying: “I’m late / I’m late / For a very important date. / No time to say “Hello, Goodbye”. / I’m late, I’m late, I’m late.”
There have been too many times that I have been in too big of a hurry to take the time to listen to the people that I have encountered while on my journey. If only I would remind myself of the need to slow down a bit I am sure my life would be much richer because of it. My friend from the nursing home had wanted to share some precious things with me. However, I listened to the internal voice saying, “I must hurry on my way. No time for a delay.” And, because I listened to that voice, I missed out on something special.
Well, time has passed. She died a few years ago. However, she is not gone. Why, she’s right here. I can hear her voice and see her lovely wrinkled face. “Hush up now rabbit. I am gonna’ stay a while.