I am falling in love with Wednesdays, and Saturdays and… well you get the idea. Today was a busy morning.. It need not necessarily have been. I woke up early but lazed around in bed day dreaming because, well, I felt cold. Then I dragged myself out and did the regular housework before my classes started at 9:30. Between cooking breakfast and lunch and two back to back classes and having to go to the post office for some work, I still managed to get out of home before 12:00 pm to take the kids out for their homeschoolers meet. Once at the park I let them go and play with their friends and the third class started. A hour later I was ready to step out and get some me time.
I should have been happy to talk to the homeschooling parents. I should have been happy to have some adult-adult time but I didn’t want to be there. I just wanted to walk into the lane which waited for me.
The last week I was here, I intended to do a 5k walk but ended up doing a 7.5 K walk because I got lost. It sounds funny, right? It was a while since I came to the park and somethings had changed. I took one wrong turn because I was enjoying the surroundings so much and taking so many pictures that I ended up going somewhere I didn’t intend to. But I enjoyed the whole walk nevertheless.
Today I intentionally decided to take the longer route. I wanted to walk all the way and enjoy the fall colours and the river and the peace and quiet. My only worry was that I had less time than last week so I decided to do a brisk walk rather than dawdle around and take pictures. The weather was fantastic. I had some random melodious music on and I was well wrapped up and had the right shoes on (I never have the wrong kind of shoes for walking) so off I went. I must have had a big grin on my face because the first person who crossed me gave me a surprised smile and then that continued all the way. I met old people, couples, friends going for a walk with their babies in a pram, people going for runs, people on bikes and I nodded and smiled at people as I went along. I was even smiling at dogs.
It was stunning and food for my senses. The eyes of course were drowning in all the beauty and the nose was thanking me for bringing it to a place with crisp air with no pollution. The ears enjoying the beautiful call of birds and the breeze occassionaly piercing through the peace and quiet. The tongue of course thanking me for the wild blackberries that I was eating along the way. The skin enjoyed the cold and the warmth of the winter sun.
My mind wandered off as it always does. I wanted to sit on one of those benches and read a book surrounded by trees with yellow leaves falling off in the breeze and listen to gentle soft music or maybe just enjoy the music of the wind. But I was like the two year old who wanted to have the cake and eat it too. I wanted to go down and walk by the river on a pathway covered by trees over my head and coloured leaves under my feet. I wanted to see the lone bird standing out there waiting for the fish to come by. I wanted to see the ducks aimlessly floating on the river. I wanted to see the placid river which looked so still that one would find the water was moving only because of the leaves on top moving in a certain direction. I wanted to see the place where the mad river joined the calm river and it made we want to get a kayak and go white water rafting even though I knew how freezing the water would be. I wanted to pluck the out of season blackberries and eat them as I walked along. So I continued to walk At one stage, I gave up and started taking pictures, though not as much as last time. What a change from last week to this!
When I reached one end of the park I bumped into someone who smiled at me and started talking about the weather This man worked in the hospital in city and we got talking about different things while walking along. It was a lovely conversation about our families, the education system, and old people in nursing homes. At one stage he stopped by a tree to touch it. He said he would always touch the tree as it grounded him and make him feel connected to the history of the place. He said he has been walking in this park for tweenty years and this is a tree he touched every single time. It was a nice ritual to be a part of as a stranger. I had to say good bye to him and move on. It reminded me of how in the journey or life we meet random people, spend time with them, enjoy it and then move on. I don’t know what this man’s name is or any of his personal details and yet we had such a beautiful conversation.
By the time I reached the car park I had done my eight km. I was starving and wanted to come home to some hot food. I just remembered I had not had my breakfast because I was busy teaching. Yet another Wednesday gone and looking forward to the next. Hoping that the weather stays better the next week too.
Shyami's little world 