This morning, we rode our bikes downtown for donuts and coffee. We rode our bikes downtown and then I went for such a small run, since I’m not a runner anymore, followed by a walk, because the dogs needed to go out.
The world was beautiful: clean air, blue sky, geese flying intermittently overhead.
I chose a chocolate donut and didn’t eat it all. It was delicious but I wanted to balance presence and mindfulness, and donuts have never really been my weakness. That designation belongs to salsa and tortilla chips, or trail mix. Chocolate mousse or homemade butterscotch pudding. Really good, aged, English cheddar cheese. Abundant ripe fruit: apricots, figs, berries.
We are at the beginning of the season for apples and pears. So many trees are heavily laden with the fruit; their branches have started to bend towards the earth. On one route, my child likes to pick up fallen apples, pitch them down the alley until they burst. The offerings of colleagues’ harvest appear at work for anyone to take, baskets upon baskets: eat, eat. Please take them.
I think of how many children do not have fresh fruit, or any food at all.
On our morning journeys around town, I look at the trees, I look at the ocean, I look at the playgrounds waiting for children to arrive. I note the dandelions and the fading hydrangeas, the chill in the air that carries autumn. I think of the day to come.
It is Sunday. This world is where I worship.
The Wandering Introvert 