Feeling so Pedestrian

Quixotic without a horse

There is a certain joy I get on days when I do not open the garage. The car and bike sit alone.

This morning I woke early and checked for rain. Clear skies. I checked the weather on my phone. Clear. A little cool. I had time. I showered. I ate a little. Had my morning movement and set out.

Dark and chilly but the air is clear. A few cars whiz by but I’m soon on back streets with no one driving. I hit the rec trail and the late sunrise shows me this:

In a car I’d just be fixating on tricolored lights and their directions. I’d be warm and not smell the crisp air or be able to run my hands through the rosemary plants as I walked. The day is so much better with this beginning.

After school I put on my running clothes to run home. Yeah, “run” sounds like a task, but I am free. I don’t actually have to run all the way home. I can stop at the night heron trees and see what there is to see. And so I do. I saw 6 total in the two trees. How many can you see? (yeah, it was getting dark… I’m sorry!)

At least three here…

two here:

I prefer to be pedestrian. I don’t mind that it takes 35 minutes longer to walk to school. I like the freedom when I run home and don’t have to worry about chaotic cars careening… I am so much more relaxed with life.

It also serves to remind me that those things I appreciate most are not under the control of humans. We might think they are… we claim victory at their successes… we claim defeat at failures… but in reality nature does what nature does and we are part of nature. The world. And so.. sunrise. A beautiful new day beginning like millions before and millions after. Unconcerned if it’s dawning on dinosaurs, humans, or whatever it is that comes after us. A marvel.

I feel a little funny about my focus on natural things and my general disdain for those things made by man. Ephemeral, they all are… but I am more impressed by things that happen naturally in the chaos. Back when my dad was alive he would frequently extol the amazing things that “man” built. “That’s a marvel of mathematics and engineering.” “Isn’t the sheer perseverance to build highways across the country incredible?” He would find beauty in bridges and buildings and cars and … well things people made. I’m glad he did… but I just don’t get it. And I found it particularly weird since he was a nurseryman. Sometimes I wonder if he was involved in self-talk trying to convince himself that all these creations by man were actually “good”. hmmm… Freeways depress me, cities depress me, stadiums filled with 60,000 people depress me… too many people. We’re ants on a tiny island. The island’s resources aren’t infinite.

Birds in a tree… they just put up with us. . . avoid us whenever necessary. These night herons? They don’t give a rip about me. They just sit there and doze regardless of my crawling around underneath as I try to get a better view. I’m lucky they don’t poop on me.

btw… two runs in a row now I’ve seen this fellow walking around town with a colorful macaw on his shoulder. I think it said something to me Monday. Today I approached from behind as I ran home. The guy had a black sweatshirt on. Bird poop stains down his back. Lovely. The bird was magnificent. Huge. Healthy.

And me… I’m happy to be pedestrian.