The Daily Walk

(The Boy in my Backyard - Chapter 1 of 40)

Nearly every morning I take a thirty-minute walk around my neighborhood.

It is a beautiful neighborhood with manicured lawns, tightly-trimmed shrubs and a succession of big, beautiful homes stretching out in all directions. Dog walkers with their four-legged companions, joggers and other early morning risers comprise a rag-tag cavalcade of my co-participants. Some walk with coffee in hand – others with a musical selection bombarding their eardrums. As much as I enjoy classical music, I prefer the sounds of nature.

Hard to hear though, living in a city.

The tree-lined streets provide the illusion of nature – a manufactured nature. All else is drown out under a cacophony of impatient automobiles and airplanes, and an occasional hovering helicopter. Awfully early for a car chase, isn’t it? – or maybe the helicopter is the local news crew reporting the morning traffic update.

Mornings start with so much promise. Or traffic. Sometimes life hands us traffic.

Determined, I make my morning trek when I feel like it – as well as when I don’t feel like it. Days when Carla does-not-want-to-walk invariably turn out to be the most rewarding.

Take that, lethargy.

I wear pretty much the same size clothing as I did before Katie was born, nearly thirty years ago – so I don’t think I’ve done too badly. Even grandmothers like to keep their girlish figures. A little cosmetic surgery here and there – ‘getting some work done,’ hasn’t hurt my appearance either.

We become the kind of people we want to be, I believe.

Going out for my walk when it’s raining makes me feel like a dedicated soul. I especially like walking just following a rain. Adventurous earthworms come out to greet me, sprawling over the pungent, wet pavement, forcing me to choose my steps carefully.

I make it a point to choose my steps wisely. I am a plotter; spontaneity is not my strong point. I would also hate to snuff out a worm.

Karma, we all know, can sometimes be a bitch. No reason to push my luck. In a future incarnation, that might be me.

In the morning: all things are new, all wishes come true, and every diet has a chance.