When I think of heaven
Deliver me in a black-winged bird
I think of flying down into a sea of pens and feathers
And all other instruments of faith and sex and god
I started out entirely too fast, but then got into my groove. Other than a few walks with my son Rob at his place, it had been months since I'd seriously gotten out for a trek around the complex, and definitely not since they re-opened the golf course. Such fond memories of taking advantage of all the winding paths throughout where now, again, I'm restricted to the outskirts. It was sweet, though... beautiful morning, out the door by 9:15, wonderful and diverse music to accompany. I finally broke down and paid the $5 a month (price of a Starbucks Matcha Green Tea Latte with coconut milk) Pandora charges to go ad-free, plus unlimited skips (meaning, no more spooky Halloween soundtrack at dusk). Gamechanger!
The route I chose took me 45 minutes, but I can add on bits and pieces throughout the complex to eventually get myself up to an hour. I thought about structuring a walking schedule but, because I love, and missed, it so much, I'm just going to plan on every day, weather-permitting. In South Florida, one has to be that flexible.
Did I say that I feel great?!?... :-)
P.S. Day Two in the books, 45 minutes again; I count time, not distance. I have always been a fast walker, and now my goal is to lengthen my stride, which provides a nice stretch throughout the route.
NR: Monogamy by Sue Miller (whoa!)
BOOK: In Praise of Walking: A New Scientific Exploration Hardcover by Shane O'Mara
POEM: Talk about Walking by Philip Booth
POEM: Talk about Walking by Philip Booth
Where am I going? I'm going
out, out for a walk. I don't
know where except outside.
Outside argument, out beyond
wallpapered walls, outside
wherever it is where nobody
ever imagines. Beyond where
computers circumvent emotion,
where somebody shorted specs
for rivets for airframes on
today's flights. I'm taking off
on my own two feet. I'm going
to clear my head, to watch
mares'-tails instead of TV,
to listen to trees and silence,
to see if I can still breathe.
I'm going to be alone with
myself, to feel how it feels
to embrace what my feet
tell my head, what wind says
in my good ear. I mean to let
myself be embraced, to let go
feeling so centripetally old.
Do I know where I'm going?
I don't. How long or far
I have no idea. No map. I
said I was going to take
a walk. When I'll be back
I'm not going to say.
QUOTE: "Travelers, there is no path, paths are made by walking." ~ Antonio Machado
