Fog socked in our little holler this morning as I set out for my morning walk and a startled a kingfisher flew chattering off into invisibility. The chill in the air felt more like autumn than August, but then I rounded the curve and walked up the hill and found bright sunshine on my shoulders again.
I love these walks in the early-morning stillness but a month from now everything will change. A school bus will rumble up the hill throwing up clouds of dust while pickup trucks full of sleepy teens zoom off toward the high school, but I won't be here to see it because I'll be teaching. I love teaching morning classes except that it makes morning walks difficult, and then the days will get shorter and colder and I'll do most of my walking in the gym.
Nothing wrong with the gym--it's quite nice and I always see pleasant people there--but there are no kingfishers in the gym, no spider webs glistening in the fog, and no faithful Hopeful hound at my side. Walking in the gym feels like an unpleasant obligation, while walking up the hill at home always brings some wonder into my life.
Why don't designers of gyms include wonder in the plans? I mean, aside from wondering how many times I've walked around this wretched track and how many more times I have to walk around it before I can earn a wellness point. Give me a track as big as all outdoors and I'll wander with wonder every day of the week.
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