I just went for a run this morning. The air was clean and cool, the flowers blooming on the trees, the sky blue without a streak or cloud in sight. As usual, I bring my dog with me. I wish someone would take a picture of us running together. I know one day I will be old and will want to look back on my running days with my strong healthy body and my young dog bounding along next to me with her tongue hanging out. For some reason no one has ever taken that photo. I’ve tried to take one myself, but its hard to do – I think I need a selfie stick because my arm’s not long enough to catch a good angle.
We ran along the ridge above the Spokane river, below us Doomsday hill reached its paved road from the bridge all the way up to the ridge-top. Next we came to the Downriver Golf Course, where just a few months ago we were cross-country skiing, and sledding, with Cleo jumping through the snow. Now the course is all green, watered by the nearby river, and old men in hats are practicing putting and driving their carts. I know the houses along this route so well, there’s one with a wooden golfer statue on the front porch that always makes me look twice because I think he’s alive.
Life has these moments, some of them repetitive, that should be appreciated because they mark chapters in our existence. I’ve been around long enough to know. Stop and breathe in these moments that are soon to be memories. In a year from now anything could happen, things always change.
Now that the snow has melted, I take the opportunity to run in the morning after walking my little girl to school. She is so precious at 8-years old. I wish I could just freeze time and hold onto her sweet little hand as we are crossing the street forever. But I know in a blink she will be 18 and heading off to college and I will have to let her go. By that time our dog will be 15, if she lives that long, and probably wont be running with me anymore. So I do my best to savor the moments of this time with all my heart.
There is always more work to do, and that has its moments too. But it isn’t the same as life. So I just wanted to take a few minutes and write this down to help me remember the way it feels to run with my dog on a crisp Spring morning in Spokane. And I’m taking a leap of bravery to share this moment of joy with you.
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