Go For a Walk Already

When your kids are sick with aches and fevers

and it's too cold to enjoy anything outside but going back inside

and the world around you shuts down for the holidays

and your better half is climbing an endless mountain called graduate school...

 a walk can do you a lot of good.

When you walk more, and you walk slower,

you start to see things you didn't before.

And then you see them once and twice and over and over,

and you may find you start to love things you never thought you would.

Like a city. Or a person.

I think a lot about city life versus rural life, because I live in a city and I read/dream about rural farmhouses.

And yet, I have noticed that over time (almost four short years at this point), this place is growing on me.

And this little stretch of sea we live right near, it is a constant haven of natural goodness on the cusp of all this city life.

There are other things to notice too.

Like how light sprinkling itself all over an expanse of ocean never gets old.

Nor does the sun streaking itself like a naughty child spilling paint buckets, running wild all over the sky.

The way light finds it's way into everything, even the deepest darkness. 

The goodness of returning health and being on the mend.

Smoothies with fresh berries and frozen juices.

Hints of warming up and the surge of air in the lungs.

Little girls who don't care if their boots get wet, 

and just keep playing..

Talks that start out sketchy but end without harm

and the realization you may not be getting worse at some things. 

Throwing rocks and stepping in tide pools,

accepting your life and the setting that holds it...

these things can all happen on a walk, or two, or three (or more).