Wind Blown

I decided to walk outside and take advantage of the warm weather before it turned cold and rainy again. While I was away these past two weeks, everything had taken bloom. The azaleas had  blossomed, the tulips had sprung to life and the grass had hit its spring growth spurt. It was the time of year that my neighborhood shines and would provide a peaceful backdrop for an evening walk... or so I thought.

What I didn't count on was the wind. Apparently it was the harbinger of the front coming in, and so while the backdrop was still beautiful, I found myself fighting the gusts as I tried to push myself at a brisk pace through the neighborhood. Had I been walking the flat trails I used in Florida, I'm sure the wind wouldn't have been as much of a challenge, but I managed to choose a route that was full of hills, and I found myself struggling against the wind as I pushed myself up the multiple inclines.

To add to my experience, it seemed that everyone else was also trying to take advantage of the weather. Many of my neighbors were out trying to get their lawns cut before the rain set in. Normally I probably wouldn't even notice this, but the wind was snatching the cuttings and blowing them through the air. My eyes started tearing, my nose started running and to add insult to injury, I found myself beset by sneezing fits.



Certainly this wasn't how I had pictured my walk playing out, but despite the wind, hills and sneezing fits, I managed to keep up a good pace. So while the evening walk didn't turn out quite as peaceful as I had imagined when I first set out, I still was able to get a good work-out. As I turned the final corner to my home, it occurred to me that the last few weeks had been something like that evenings walk, not what I expected, not particularly pleasant, but a positive experience none the less.