The Walking Reminder

There's this guy whom I often bump into on campus. I had a class with him last semester; I knew his name then, but I don't now. He's not particularly attractive or attracted to me, but he's friendly enough that we'll stop and chat whenever we happen to be in the same place at the same time: places like in the hall on our way to the same general area, standing at the bus stops waiting for different buses, or in the testing center while I'm working and he's there with a friend.

This guy is a reminder to me of how relaxed life should be. He's not mentally handicapped at all, but his speech patterns are just really slow. Whenever I talk to him, I find myself interrupting his sentences with comments to his thoughts and forcing him to start slightly new thoughts every time I speak. After a few minutes of doing this in the last conversation we had today, I realized that he makes me remember to listen, to pause and just watch the full thought ease itself out of him without trying to interrupt it. They are always valid thoughts that lead to rewarding anecdotes, but because my speech patterns and thought patterns are dramatically more rapid than his, I force myself to slow down. And as much as I pride myself of setting aside plenty of Me-Time, everyone needs a reminder to slow down every once in awhile. This guy is mine.