Walking in perfect weather up the big horrible hill this morning, I found it difficult to believe in the devastating events taking place elsewhere: friends out west struggle to breathe in the midst of massive fires while my brother-in-law drives north to escape the path of Irma and my dad hunkers down at home in central Florida hoping the hurricane respects his personal space. In the midst of all this threat, it feels wrong to enjoy a pleasant stroll in the woods with nothing to worry me except the prospect of hip pain on the way down the hill.
I made the walk on Wednesday for the first time since I twisted my hip back in August, and it felt fine on the way up the hill but screamed all the way down. Today I fared better, with minor pain and just a little stiffness afterward. I realize that complaining about joint pain is a sure sign that I've joined the ranks of Pathetic Older Persons, but at the moment that's all I've got.
On Wednesday I saw kingfishers along the creek and a pileated woodpecker in the woods--and a good half-dozen deer boldly bounding through a meadow--but today the woods were quite and still. The neighbors' burros stood up close to the fence for a change, the babies skittering around like cartoon characters from an animated film called Bucky the Burro Goes for a Bounce while the adults stood stock-still, following Hopeful's progress with their eyes but ignoring me entirely. Apparently they don't perceive me as a threat.
Two weeks into the semester I treasure a weekend free of class preps and student papers. By this time next week, I'll be struggling through a tsunami of student drafts while wrangling with a pile of reading and committee work, but for this brief moment I intend to enjoy the peace and quiet as we all wait to see what new devastation might be heading our way.
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