Dusting Off My Walking Shoes

This last week had brought in a more comfortable temperature in the Las Vegas valley as summer made a delayed exit. With the heat at a more tolerable level, I decided that it's time to nudge to life my walking shoes that had been taking a long summer sabbatical in a shoe rack in the garage. I crept out of bed around 6:15 one morning, checked the sky for any sign of rain, and after being greeted by the clear dawn, got ready with my walking gear. I drove to the nearby park and parked on the south section, donned my hat to hide my uncombed hair, put a pair of sunglasses in my sweat top's pocket, then off I went.

I went on the trail going left on my usual fast stride which did not agree with my calf muscles so I decided to slow down. I was greeted by the soft, crisp morning breeze that stripped off the last vestige of sleep in my brain and an invigorating warmth soon crept in. The park, with its rolling terrain covered with thick, green, manicured grass, was a picture of order that was both restful and calming. The pine trees lined along the trails stood quiet and still as they waited for another morning breeze to come through. After a quarter of a mile briskly walking on the cemented path, I picked up my pace and noticed that the annoying ache in my muscles was gone. The park was not deserted but was not busy either. There was a smattering of early morning risers, most of them elderly, who came to walk their dogs and a few joggers I exchanged "good morning" pleasantries with but they were negligible in a park many acres in size. I followed the outer trail with its twists and turns as it meandered like a curly ribbon on the immense landscape. The gazebos, widely scattered along the way, were empty and free of activity except for a dog walker who had chosen a deserted spot to rest from his early morning stroll. It was calm. Except for the soft chirping of some little birds nesting on a branch of a pine tree, it was quiet and I was free to commune with the beauty all around me and with the One who made it all possible. My heart sang a silent song of gratitude to Him whose incomparable love became the catalyst for the creation of a world of such unfathomable grandeur.

Alone to salute the dawn, with the incredible beauty of the morning sun just barely starting to cast away the darkness, I felt some visceral lightness energizing my soul. As I finished my first lap, I saw the familiar brightness creeping to join the blue on the eastern horizon. Minutes later, like a thousand multi-faceted jewels casting their dazzling sparkles, the mighty sun completed its grand entrance and bathed the world with its radiance. I donned my sunglasses to block the glare but did not lose sight of this mesmerizing phenomenon that occurred every twenty-four hours from the dawn of creation. Darkness, light, darkness and light again, and the cycle would go on until the Power that created it completed that one great eternal round in the supernal scheme of things.

I headed to my car as I finished my second lap - 3 miles in 40 minutes. Not bad for a first day after a long self-imposed absence from the walking trail. I walked away from the blinding brightness with my cap pulled down, my sunglasses in place and the long sleeves of my walking gear covering every inch of my arms. That love-hate relationship I would always have with the sun, that mighty bearer of light, would be hard to reconcile because as much as I loved its beauty and its brilliance, I hated the blistering heat it inflicted especially at its peak. 

As I walked back to my car with the sun on my back, the bright morning sun cast a shadow in front of me of a small figure with a baseball cap on her head, with walking shoes that, hopefully, had been dusted off by the cool breeze and the lush green grass along the park's meandering trails.  Hope I'll see that shadow again tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after.