Further Reflections on A&W

I was thinking some more about our time at the A&W yesterday. Nelson tells me that this was one of the original A&W’s. It is located on the road between Ashland and Wooster. I may have to do some research on that one. (Research done…husband is sitting on the couch cracking up that I would have actually believed his bunch of hooey…when will I ever learn….)

It’s one of the old fashioned stands. You pull in and when you’re ready to order you turn your lights on. All it was missing was roller skates on the gals waiting on the cars.

The wonderment that kept coming back to me was that we appeared to be the youngest couple there. Someone mentioned to me that was probably too early a time for anyone younger to be there. 2 in the afternoon? I think it does have something to do with time, but not the time of day as much as the time it takes to get your food.

We are such an instant people. I think I remember this statistic correctly: we don’t like to wait longer than thirty-seven seconds to be waited on at places like McDonalds. 37 seconds. We want instant service at WalMart or the grocery, or the bank. We want instant food. Microwaves are barely fast enough. We expect the food we order in restaurants to be instantly whisked out to our tables..

We want quick fixes to relationships. We want instant healing. We want to lose weight quickly (Have you seen the commercial where the guy in the gym weighs himself and then runs around the equipment once and expects to see some loss when he gets on the scales?). We want our news now. So much so we can get updates on our phones and pagers—which are just other evidences our instant fetish: don’t wait to reach me when I’m home to call, reach me where ever I am. And then there’s the ever-present Instant Messaging.

Sometimes I wonder if that ‘s why I don’t feel out of sync. I can keep up the fevered pitch at work, but when I’m at home I just want to SLOW down and savor the moments. It’s funny one of the things that slowed me down was when I was on a diet last year. To make the meals more appealing and appetizing I found different ways to marinate the chicken Marinate, the very process takes time. The longer the meat is marinated the more juicy and delicious the end product.

Love takes time. I am deeply concerned about couples who don’t take the time to give love a chance to help them work through their differences. Many couples, products of the instant and disposable age we live in, move directly from problems to divorce without ever attempting to work through the matters before them.

As I write this, I’m sitting in my chair in the living room looking through the dining room and into the kitchen. It’s a little like looking at a snapshot of my life. There are projects in process: Nelson is stripping the paint from the wood work in the living room, the wall paper is half removed in the living room and started in the dining room. There is a piece of paneling in the dining room and a ceiling panel out in there too. Two bins of cross stitch stuff are taking up room between here and there (gifts from my SIL/friend Rhonda—because she no longer wanted them). And the kitchen is a project begging to be done. There amidst the projects is a collection of old antiques and new modern equipment. All symbolic of the tension I live with.

So I will keep going back to the A&W because I like the root beer and because it helps me slow down, breathe, appreciate, reflect, and enjoy life.