Day 4,432—a New Routine—

 

You would think I would be sleeping in and taking it easy today, but I am trying to figure out a new routine of running, writing, and working. I have made progress on both my MO video and write-up, but neither is done yet, and now I am starting to think about all the other things I need to finish in the next couple of weeks. My left leg is still bothering me, and although I am determined to do more miles this week, I will not do so at the expense of hurting myself or preventing myself from healing.

      I woke up at 5:30 and was running within an hour. I wanted to be home around 7:15 to see my daughter off on the bus, so I figured I would start early, but I might run a little more after I see her off. I ran on some of the busiest roads today, going all the way past the grocery store on Watson, then turning around and running around, coming home via Laclede.

     I stumbled upon an intimate scene of a couple at the bus stop as I ran towards them. The taller guy with long gray hair was hugging the shorter woman at the bus station. I wondered what type of goodbye this was. Was this a husband and wife, and one is going to work for the day? Was this a couple who met by circumstance, but now one of them was heading back home and family? I tried to imagine the circumstances in which someone would go on a long trip, starting at the local bus stop. I imagined they could take the bus to either a plane or a different bus that would take them across the country. 

I made it home just in time to hear my daughter yelling “Dada” as she waited for the bus. I had just finished a little over 4 miles, and after the bus came and went, I headed back out, commenting on the swirling dark clouds and wondering when the rain would fall. I didn’t have to wait long; it started storming five minutes later. I wondered about the shoe I recently took a picture of. I was thinking how amazing it was that it had barely moved after all this time. Now it would be moved for sure, so I tried to be thankful I took a picture of it when I could. 

Suddenly, the ephemeral nature of life overwhelmed me, and I tried to be grateful for all the moments I had and for the ones I shared with the people I love. You don’t have to convince me that nothing lasts forever, but what always depresses me is how people change on you, and not small changes as they show in the movies, but big, huge changes, like people change species. You get to know someone when they are an ostrich, but suddenly, when you see them next, they’re a koala bear. You have nothing against koala bears, but they are just not the ostrich that you had gotten to know before.