On Walking

I recently started walking in the evenings. Just around the neighborhood. Anyone who has been to my house knows that it's pretty hilly, so I get a descent workout. I find, much to my surprise, that I'm enjoying myself immensely. I put my headphones on and listen to my music as I walk, so it's not like I'm doing any thinking, which is very nice. I think way too much. It's good to be doing something that lets my mind go relatively blank.

The music relaxes me. I think I've been missing music in my life for a while now. I don't usually have it playing in the house. Normally it's either a movie playing or silence. I used to listen to music on my 40 minute drives to and from school, but now that I live so close, I don't even get that. A long time ago, almost a lifetime, I was a music major, so music has always been a large part of my life. I guess without it, I've lost a bit of myself. It feels good to connect with it again. It feels like we're rediscovering each other, like high school sweethearts coming together at the reunion. I feel almost whole.

On my walk today, I passed by an old man standing on his front porch. He was across the street, so I couldn't really see what he looked like, (I don't wear my glasses on my walks) except that he was wearing a white undershirt without a top shirt. He waved at me. I waved back, and then I smiled. It was kind of strange. Strange for me, at least. It's been a long time, almost 25 years, since I've lived in a neighborhood in which people waved at you as you walked by. It felt good, too. To him, I was just some woman walking by, ponytail bobbing, arms swinging, lips moving to music he couldn't hear, but something in him thought I needed that wave. I guess I did. Made me feel like I was a part of the neighborhood instead of just someone who lives a few blocks over. We didn't say anything to each other. I couldn't have heard him if he did. The French music in my ears was turned up too loud for that. But it still felt like we shared this tiny speck of a moment together. Funny. Never felt that before.