I'm not sure how long my friend was on the phone, maybe 15 minutes, but I began to notice every detail about the tiny lobby, and all of the things out the window. I took pictures out the window with different perspectives. I read all the signs in the lobby, ones that people probably walked by all of the time and had never read. I wondered why there was braille on one that was an emergency sign, because in an emergency how would a blind person know where to feel for the sign? I read a sign with a word I didn't know on it and googled it to see what it meant. "Egress" means exit. Why couldn't they just have said exit? I opened the drawers to a little side table that was there - there was nothing in it. I noticed how hot it felt in the lobby and wondered if the air flow wasn't good there. I watched the people come in and out of the elevators, wondering if they wondered why we were there or who we were.
If we had just walked past this space, none of those thoughts would have occurred. But when I was forced to stop and stay in this tiny space, I did all of those things. We rush through so much of life and don't stop to think sometimes. Sometimes you can even ask a person to close their eyes and ask them what they are wearing right then and they don't even know. We don't stop to wonder, to ponder, to question, to notice, to observe, to appreciate... at top speed, we hurtle through the spaces that don't look impressive, these seasons of life that are painful, and past these people that we just don't have time or emotion for. I hope you stop. I hope you pause and take notice. I hope you literally sit down, look around you, think without being on your phone, talk to people without an ending time, and engage.
I know your excuses. I've heard them. And some of them are mine too. I still think it's so important to slow down sometimes. (Or often!) You might have no idea what you are missing. You might not notice it until it's gone, or something is damaged.
