Get Mud on Your Shoes

I woke up to a house without the warmth of artificial light . Outside, the rain and mist told me why. I could see my resolution to walk everyday disappearing rapidly as I shivered in the bathroom.

But an hour later, wrapped in 3 layers, I was on the road.  Part of the mindset to go out  came from  today’s  read-with-morning-coffee,  Tuesdays with Morrie   . Morrie struggles with a nerve disease which stops him from dancing, swimming, walking and later, struggle  to keep doing all the basic activities that keep us alive.  But he faces death as he liked to live life – ‘with dignity, with humor, with courage and with composure.’

What I got from the book today was  that life, and our bodies are such a gift. We should use them while we still can. Just walking without pain can be wonderful to older people.  So why don’t I do just that ?  Use my legs while I still can.

I was carrying one of those large umbrellas because foldable umbrellas don’t really stand a chance in the wind.  Halfway along the walk , I unfolded it only to have it pulled out of cold wet fingers. It drifted along , a pretty yellow an d white thing and gently came to rest just a few feet below the  road on the side of a cliff.

There was not a soul on the road. You can guess the farce that played out then.. With me clambering down to get it  and the umbrella moving along flirtatiously just a few inches out of reach.

After some hill climbing and hoping desperately that the grass tufts I was grasping wouldnt give way , I was the victor. Muddied and dirty, umbrella and I were back on the road.  My just- cleaned shoes were brown.

But the whole encounter, rather exhilarated me. And woke me up. When one is pulled out of comfort zones  and has to do things rarely done then it does give a fillip to life.

Little adventures add such a colourful high to the day.

 

About these ads