What I Am Thankful For: Going For A Walk

The weather has become a little brisker however the skies are ofttimes blue with only a minimum of clouds. At night, despite the ambient light of the city, there are stars twinkling overhead. It's fall with a touch of winter in the air but it feels wonderful outside.

Usually during the evenings around 9pm, I go out for a nightly walk, sometimes a power walk, sometimes a leisurely stroll. It feels good to move my limbs, smell the crisp air, and take in the sights and sounds of the outdoors. It is a reminder that I'm alive and, at this particular moment, life is good.

Why would I be thankful for such an insignificant thing as a walk?

As I've already mentioned many times, maybe far too many times, I suffered the worse physical injury of my entire life in 2012 which saw me pretty much locked up in my apartment for almost five months in pain twenty-fours a day, seven days a week. While I did manage to go to work and I did out of necessity go to the grocery store, I did so by gritting my teeth as walking any further than thirty feet hurt. Yes, when you feel pain doing something you tend to avoid that activity.

I remember watching people walking, jogging, and playing with an easy-going acceptance of how normal life is. I couldn't do that. It hurt. But what was even more disconcerting was that I had no idea if my condition was temporary or whether I was going to be looking at a state of chronic pain for the rest of my life.

Last evening, I walked for four kilometres. I enjoyed strolling through neighbourhoods. I enjoyed traversing a couple of parks during my journey. I enjoyed walking down a busy thoroughfare looking at various commercial outlets where people were visiting stores, shopping, or picking up pizza. It felt good to see, hear, and smell life all around me. I walked. I didn't feel pain. I actually felt good.

But I remembered. You don't know what you've got until it's gone. One of the most common, even mundane parts of my life takes on a preciousness I had not thoroughly valued before. I am free. Not just free from pain, but free to move, free to live. I never want to go through that again.

Thanks to Pauline Gaines
Credit where credit is due: Ms. Gaines has been writing a series of articles on her blog entitled "What I am thankful for" and I am stealing plagiarising respectfully acknowledging her moments of appreciation for the smaller things in life. (The Perils of Divorced Pauline: What I’m Thankful For: My Washer/Dryer - Oct 13/2013)

"Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first."
-Ernestine Ulmer (1892-1987, American author)

May you all have wonderful pain-free walks. And let us all be thankful for the little things in life.


References

my blog: Health: One Year Later, One Year Lost
April 7, 2012, this is the red letter day in my personal annals marking the worst physical injury of my entire life. At the one year anniversary, I am much much better, thank you very much, but I am still trying to climb out of the hole and still have a way to go.

my blog: Joni Mitchell: Big Yellow Taxi
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone

The Perils of Divorced Pauline
World-class gnarly divorce survivor. Sense of humor more in tact than marbles. Mom. Cat-Lover. Contributor to Divorced Moms and HuffPo Divorce.

2013-10-25

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