I love to walk. Long hikes. Short walks. Climbing rocks. Walking along a shoreline. So long as I am outside, feeling the ground beneath my feet, I feel good. At peace. Relaxed in spirit (even if I’m struggling physically with a steep climb).
Winter started arriving pretty soon after my return from my Camino walk in November. After walking five to six hours a day while on pilgrimage, the cold weather deterred me from venturing out too often for walks.
As it has in many parts of the United States, it has been a very cold and snowy winter. And my body has been feeling it. Walk me, my legs have been crying. I was starting to really feel the effects of limiting my exercise to what can be done indoors.
Then all of a sudden this week, we have gotten some warmer days. Monday and Tuesday we saw temperatures into the high 40s. Yesterday, was the monthly gathering of my peer supervision group. We meet at the Basilica, which is about a seven or eight block walk from the law school. I looked out the window, saw the sun was shining, checked the temperature and decided 26 degrees, although colder than the prior two days, was warm enough for a good walk. (Yes, I know it is perhaps a sign that I’ve been living in the Twin Cities too long that 26 seems “warm enough.”)
I walked to the Basilica and back again after my meeting and can only say, I felt good. Really good. Happy. If I could whistle (I really can’t – never could), I’d have been whistling through the streets.
And so this morning, as I reflect back on the feeling I had yesterday, I am giving thanks. I am grateful for the sunshine. Grateful for the (at least relative) warmth. Grateful for the beauty of the world we inhabit. Grateful for the physical health that lets me get out and about. Just grateful.
Creo en Dios! 