I need to exercise! How many days (and nights) have I said this? And I do NOTHING! Well, today, I resolved, was going to be different! So, I trudged upstairs, stared at the treadmill … nothing. Next, I considered the set of free weights … nothing! Trampoline—aah! Got in a few bounces, and then gave up. Gave the rower a glance as I escaped the exercise room, muttering to myself, “There must be something else that I can do!”
Ten minutes later, water bottle in hand, I was standing at the edge of the neighborhood park, gazing at the lake, the ducks, and feeling the warm sun beating down on my baseball capped head. Yes! I can do this! I started out at a brisk pace, started jogging a bit, (got to impress that elderly couple walking behind me!) and slowly but steadily progressed through the first loop of the lake without even noticing that I had walked a MILE!
Encouraged, (and still barely ahead of that elderly couple), I decided to make a second loop. Luckily, I had a lot of distractions that kept me from dwelling on the fact that my left foot hurt like hell, and my right hip, for some reason, was protesting wildly every time I even pretended to jog! What was up with that? I soldiered on, and somewhere around the one and a half mile mark, I forgot about my various aches and pains and simply focused on the absolute beauty of the day in front of me … the sparkling lake, with its scattered fishermen concentrating fiercely on their lines, and especially the walkers, joggers, and runners that I encountered on my dogged quest for fitness.
I saw an old man sitting at a picnic table, thoroughly engrossed in his David Baldacci novel. I saw a young mother panting as she pushed her stroller with a chubby infant strapped inside. I saw an entire family—dad, teenage daughter, young son, and two dogs, clustered and walking protectively around a forty-something woman who was struggling to navigate the walking trail while clutching a thick cane.
They all had something in common with me on this, just another day … everybody looked glad to be just where they were: at the neighborhood park on an absolutely gorgeous spring day. How did we get this lucky?
