Medical issues and age (86 in November) have made slow a necessary part of my daily life. I mean really slow. I have worked hard to accept this inevitability. Still, it is difficult to feel the increasing estrangement from the world's increasing addiction to speed. I find less and less valuing of slow at any level. But when I do, I find myself savoring it like a slow-cooked meal.

I have recently stumbled across a book that I am now reading. The title is The Art of Slow Writing by Luise DeSalvo. While I used to enjoy reading fast, that is no longer the case. So, I am reading this book slowly, very slowly. Early on she quotes from a poem by Eve Merriam: "It takes a lot/of slow/to grow." I've taken this up as a mantra.

I did not want to wait until I finished this book to alert you to it. But from what I have read so far, I recommend it highly.