I’ve written before about our middle dog, Pedro Ramon Kuhlman. You can read about his picky eating habits in my post called “Love Is Never Wasted,” but today I want to talk about Pedro’s slowness.

If Pedro is eating, he will never be the first dog finished. He begins his mealtime ritual with a period of staring at the wall, which I refer to as his moment of offering thanks. Once he’s eating, he often stops to pause and close his eyes. Maybe his teeth hurt (all 4 or 5 of them), or maybe he can’t believe he has to eat the same dog food twice a day, every day. But he could be savoring his food, a trait not often seen in dogs.

When we walk, he is always trailing behind, not because he doesn’t like to walk – he’s often first to show up when I put my fanny pack on – but because he is…well, slow. He walks slowly, and even when I call him to come in from the backyard, he takes his sweet time.

Living in a world that seems to chant “Faster, faster” in our ears, I am starting to see the value in Pedro’s approach. He doesn’t rush through the dailyness of life like I do. He takes time to stretch out on the warm concrete of the driveway and close his eyes, even if he knows he has to go inside soon. According to Pedro, slow is the way to go. He may be right.