First time. First time today!
My family said they didn't mind waiting for their dinner if I wanted to walk first before getting the meal started, so I took the opportunity to go. I haven't been walking outside much at all for two or maybe three months. It has just been too cold for me. It was about thirty degrees or so tonight so I decided to give it a try. It wasn't too bad, but it would have been better for me if I had only walked for about thirty minutes instead of the forty-five minutes that I took. My fingers and toes were pretty numb by the time I got back home.
It was a pleasant walk even if it was cold. It was quiet and peaceful. I saw one person walking a dog, and I think only one car drove past me through the neighborhood while on my way there. Most folks had better sense than to be out and were home in their warm houses, I think. The path through the park was clear as you can see in the picture, so I didn't have to worry about falling on any ice or getting my shoes wet and cold in the snow. What's that you say? Boots? Yes, I have boots, but I rarely wear them. I save those to wear when we REALLY have snow, and I have to be out shoveling it. When we just have a couple inches on the ground like we have now, they are a nuisance to me to have to wear. They're really not very comfortable to wear for long walks either.
It hasn't been a bad winter really. We've had several snowfalls, but only one gave us a significant amount of snow. The rest have been smaller storms and brought us mostly only a couple of inches or so at a time. In between snowfalls, the temperatures overall stayed cold, but we had a few days here and there where it would warm up enough to melt a little of the snow off. It hasn't yet gone completely away, but at least it hasn't been piling up higher and higher like it did last year either.
One of the best things about my walk tonight is that it gave me time to just think about things without interruption. The quiet lends itself to contemplation. I get my best thinking done while I am walking on the path through the trees without the sound of the TV or video games or the phone ringing in the background to distract me. Walking and thinking calms me and helps me focus on whatever I happen to be dealing with at the moment. Walking gives me time to mull over the events of the day.
On tonight's walk, I was thinking about one of the patrons at the library where I work. This lady came in to pick up some books she had requested. She is one of our regulars, and she comes quite often to the library. She is a very quiet and reserved lady. I don't know her from outside the library. I only know her from waiting on her at the circulation desk. She is very sweet and polite to me, and we generally make small talk while I am checking her books out to her.
When she came in to pick up her books tonight, though, she seemed almost to be a different person. I could tell she was very excited as she approached the desk. She was literally beaming from ear to ear. I smiled at her and said, "Hi."
She flashed the biggest smile I've ever seen her wear and said not "Hi," or "How are you?" or "I have two books to pick up today," or "It sure is cold outside," as she normally would. Instead, the first words out of her mouth by way of greeting me were, "I just became a grandma! First time. First time today!"
She had joy shining and spilling out of her in such an undeniable way, that I couldn't help but feel it and share it and be thrilled for her in her celebration. She went on to tell me the details of the birth. How she (her new granddaughter) came much earlier than expected, but that she was doing fine. The new mom and dad were doing fine too, and of course she shared the newborn's height and weight and name with me. They are the details shared by every new parent or grandparent---those numbers and the name that make it so--that prove that the baby is really here. With each detail, I could hear her delight and her pride. I felt privileged that she was so eager to share the news with me.
So on my walk, I think about the fact that someday that may be me relating the exciting news to someone that I am a grandma. I'm not ready to take on that role yet. In fact, I hope it will be QUITE a few years away yet before that becomes a reality for me. When it does though, I hope I will be filled with as much joy about the news as she was today. That's how it should be, I think.
