I'm not sorry

Now that we're fully entrenched in this life phase of having not 1 but 2 children who are fairly steady walkers, if not always fast or focused in that task, I find us moving at a different pace than most of the world around us.  It's definitely a different pace than we were moving at even a few months ago and it's exciting and awesome and interesting in all kinds of ways.  And while "slow and steady wins the race," I can't help but notice that we tend to cause a bit of a traffic jam as we walk down the aisle of a store or make a slow exit from a restaurant (restaurants especially take more effort just because of the doors and mud rugs that need to be negotiated).

So far (knock on wood) we haven't gotten many negative comments--Loud Anonymous Neighbor Guy is really the only negative person I've heard so far--but I can see when someone has to abruptly stop and wait for us to pass that sometimes they might be thinking something along the lines of "Hurry up already!" or "You brought a wheelchair; use it!" or "Just carry her already!"  (That last one is really ironic because most people, when they see you carry a 3 year old, will bust out with the helpful opposing advice "Let that child walk!")

For whatever reason, I usually feel like I need to acknowledge that we have interrupted a stranger's day.  Yes, it's about a 5 minute delay on getting their French fries or getting off the elevator or getting to the shampoo aisle, but it's still something they didn't expect to find.  I started out apologizing when we were first encouraging Addy to walk any- and every-where, but that felt so wrong.  The truth is that I'm not sorry that she walks slowly and I don't want her to be sorry either.  I'm proud of her.  She works hard--really REALLY hard--and has made a ton of great progress as a result. I'm grateful more than I am sorry.  Grateful that she's able to walk and dance and be independent and be so self-motivated to keep working at something that is such a challenge.

So "sorry" is out.  What do I say instead?  I choose to say "Thank you" instead.  "I really appreciate your patience."