Communing with Nature

I said goodbye to my friend this morning and watched her drive off to Huntsville AL to start the next phase of her life. I was going to miss her, but I knew we still had more adventures ahead of us. So instead of letting it ruin my day, I wiped the tears away and headed to the shower to get ready for work. One goodbye down, one more to go. 

I followed with a productive day at work, and when I got home decided that nature was calling me. It wasn't too hot, there was a slight breeze in the air and the sky was a vivid blue. It was definitely an outdoor day. I had learned my lesson from previous walks this summer, however, so before heading out, I chugged a bottle of water. I did not want to get to the other side of the neighborhood only to discover it was hotter than I imagined it to be and find myself struggling to get home, because I was dehydrated. 

I headed out the door and turned to the left. I found I liked to alternate departure routes to keep the walks more interesting. Now that I was walking fairly regularly outside, the enjoyment of seeing the neighborhood children at play, manicured lawns or blossoming bushes wasn't quite as interesting as it had been after months of winter hibernation, but I still found it more interesting than the scenery that a treadmill provided. 

I pushed myself to walk at a pace just below a jog. I was trying to work up to running outside, but knew I wasn't quite there yet. The treadmill provided a soft landing, and I knew sidewalks and roads would provide another level of difficulty I had to work up to. I wound up and down the neighborhood streets and ended up on the backside of the neighborhood. I decided to head off the main roads and hit the walking path that edged the forest. 

I had only gone just a slight way when I realized that the bottle of water I had chugged had managed to make it all the way through me. I was going to have to slow my pace just a little for fear of "leakage". What to do? I was a long way from the house and wasn't particularly close to any of my friends houses. As I pondered my situation I had a vision of my husband telling me multiple times about instances where he had to pull off into the woods midway through a run to relieve himself. Somehow I never imagined I would be in that predicament. In fact, I was fairly sure I had even thought those exact words to myself many times as he relayed his stories; yet here I was actually considering the possibility of communing with nature in a way that I had not imagined when I left the house thirty minutes earlier. 

I considered how far it was to my nearest friend's house, and thought for at least another few steps that I might be able to make it there. Finally the urge was just too great; nature was calling and so was the nearest bush. As I headed home, I thought to myself that apparently there still were some firsts waiting to surprise me on this journey after all.  I'm just not quite sure ducking behind a bush was the kind of first I would count as a milestone.