The Strange Thing about Progress

This is a turtle. We found her in our backyard one morning.

This doesn’t happen often, so my daughters and I made quite a fuss (okay, really, it was just me because the girls lost interest after 30 seconds).

She seemed to be making her way along the fence probably to that one spot on the far end where other critters escape to the neighbor’s yard. The turtle had a ways to go.

I thought turtles are slow, and I had plenty of time to go do something else and check in later to see where she was. I’ll have you know, she completely disappeared when we took our eyes off her for a few minutes.

I have some theories:

Maybe a hawk got her. That would have to be one fast, strong bird.

Maybe she blended in somewhere else in the grass and I just missed her completely.

However, more than likely, I think she made it to her destination, assuredly and quietly. She just kept her pace and was there before any of us expected.

That’s the strange thing about progress. Speed is not essential for success. Timing is a matter of perspective. In the end, you get to where you’re going by moving forward, little by little.

The moral of the story? Go as slow as you want/need to. Believe it or not, you are headed somewhere, and everyone who isn’t watching is going to miss how far you go.

~Jennifer.