Celebration
Sunday I had my own private celebration of life. It also happened to be the one year anniversary of the day I began working toward a new relationship with my body - and the food I eat. I began the day very early finding I could not go back to sleep after my initial wake up. I decided to work out. My Ohio workouts were great and I wanted to keep up the pace. I had a fantastic work out with cardio, then weights, then pool and sauna. It was a balanced, productive, and challenging work out. I felt relaxed and happy afterward.
My grandson decided to visit his Mom and my daughter was catching up with friends so I found myself without the kids for the rest of the day. I could have stayed home to unpack and clean but I felt the day being handed over as a gift to me to do with whatever I pleased. I wanted a nature experience and some reading time. I went out into the hot July afternoon thinking of my cornfield and the trail nearby. I stopped at a trail head before my cornfield. I went on a hike for close to two hours. I loved the heat. There was shade much of the way but when I was in the sun it felt so alive and intense and real that I basked in it. It felt like energy. It felt like a healing warmth. It is hard to explain in words.
After my hike I was hungry, and I took the winding country road much further in search of a cozy dining place. There were wineries but I decided to go to a small village and I dined at a bed and breakfast. It was a leisurely meal. I felt drained when I got into the air conditioning so I spent some time recuperating. But I felt a good drain, like I had purged, detoxed, or cleansed out there in the July sun.
After my dinner I set back out towards home. I had noted a river access park on my way and wanted to find a spot to sit with a view of the water. I found a path right off the parking lot that went directly to the bank. There was breeze cooling the valley. It was evening by then. I sat for I don't know how long drinking it in. The air replenished what the sun had removed. I felt new. And I still do.
I can tell you that the scenery never looked so beautiful as it did on Sunday. It was as if I had forgotten how magnificent the countryside can be. My brother talks about a religious experience after which everything looks new as if seeing for the first time. That is what it was like for me. Awe at the sight of it all. Excitement and joy at the knowledge that there is so much beauty to behold not far from where I live. A spot for me. Free of charge. Waiting for me.
On the way home I stopped for tea and reading time. It was a perfect ending to a perfect outing. I was relaxed enough to get to bed early for a good night's sleep.
Monday morning I woke up very early and could not wait to go out into the day. I took a sunrise hike at my conservation area that I love. The one I posted pictures from a couple months back. I watched the sky fill with color as I walked. I realized that every day there is a sunrise for me if I choose to see it. Every day. Waiting for me if I want it. I marveled at that for a while. After the hike I went for coffee and reading time prior to work. I arrived at work with a mysterious and somewhat contagious excitement for my job that is still getting the bewildered attention of others. I cannot contain it and have decided I do not want to. People are talking. They say I have changed. Something happened in Ohio they surmise. It is Wednesday and I am still excited. There have been comments about how I look. That I look refreshed (I got that one on Tues morning when I had had about three hours sleep!). That my body looks great, and so on. It is wild.
On Monday I discovered a coffee house where I feel at home. I hid out there for two lunches and two mornings so far. Reading, working, savoring the coffee bar.
I feel I have found a home in a place that holds so many joys and surprises. Untold delights await me.
That boy has been kind of an ass (except for the romantic evening after the airport pick up) but even that can't bring me down for very long. If anything, it is a catalyst to personal growth. I am amazed at my new found capacity to deal with life. It is like magic. I hope it does not wear off. I am not saying everything is roses because that is not true. But I can pick myself up, learn something and move on. I am still working in my book about healing. It must be working. I also had a pleasant man encounter at the coffee shop. I felt it was a sign of things to come. A reminder that there are ambassadors from the planet of men out there to greet me when I am brave enough to go there.
Anyway, I hope to get caught up on blogging soon. It has been very busy getting back home and back to the office after being gone for five days. I want to post pictures from the beauty I have seen but my daughter took my camera batteries and I did not get to take any. I will go back and return with photos.
More will be revealed.
My grandson decided to visit his Mom and my daughter was catching up with friends so I found myself without the kids for the rest of the day. I could have stayed home to unpack and clean but I felt the day being handed over as a gift to me to do with whatever I pleased. I wanted a nature experience and some reading time. I went out into the hot July afternoon thinking of my cornfield and the trail nearby. I stopped at a trail head before my cornfield. I went on a hike for close to two hours. I loved the heat. There was shade much of the way but when I was in the sun it felt so alive and intense and real that I basked in it. It felt like energy. It felt like a healing warmth. It is hard to explain in words.
After my hike I was hungry, and I took the winding country road much further in search of a cozy dining place. There were wineries but I decided to go to a small village and I dined at a bed and breakfast. It was a leisurely meal. I felt drained when I got into the air conditioning so I spent some time recuperating. But I felt a good drain, like I had purged, detoxed, or cleansed out there in the July sun.
After my dinner I set back out towards home. I had noted a river access park on my way and wanted to find a spot to sit with a view of the water. I found a path right off the parking lot that went directly to the bank. There was breeze cooling the valley. It was evening by then. I sat for I don't know how long drinking it in. The air replenished what the sun had removed. I felt new. And I still do.
I can tell you that the scenery never looked so beautiful as it did on Sunday. It was as if I had forgotten how magnificent the countryside can be. My brother talks about a religious experience after which everything looks new as if seeing for the first time. That is what it was like for me. Awe at the sight of it all. Excitement and joy at the knowledge that there is so much beauty to behold not far from where I live. A spot for me. Free of charge. Waiting for me.
On the way home I stopped for tea and reading time. It was a perfect ending to a perfect outing. I was relaxed enough to get to bed early for a good night's sleep.
Monday morning I woke up very early and could not wait to go out into the day. I took a sunrise hike at my conservation area that I love. The one I posted pictures from a couple months back. I watched the sky fill with color as I walked. I realized that every day there is a sunrise for me if I choose to see it. Every day. Waiting for me if I want it. I marveled at that for a while. After the hike I went for coffee and reading time prior to work. I arrived at work with a mysterious and somewhat contagious excitement for my job that is still getting the bewildered attention of others. I cannot contain it and have decided I do not want to. People are talking. They say I have changed. Something happened in Ohio they surmise. It is Wednesday and I am still excited. There have been comments about how I look. That I look refreshed (I got that one on Tues morning when I had had about three hours sleep!). That my body looks great, and so on. It is wild.
On Monday I discovered a coffee house where I feel at home. I hid out there for two lunches and two mornings so far. Reading, working, savoring the coffee bar.
I feel I have found a home in a place that holds so many joys and surprises. Untold delights await me.
That boy has been kind of an ass (except for the romantic evening after the airport pick up) but even that can't bring me down for very long. If anything, it is a catalyst to personal growth. I am amazed at my new found capacity to deal with life. It is like magic. I hope it does not wear off. I am not saying everything is roses because that is not true. But I can pick myself up, learn something and move on. I am still working in my book about healing. It must be working. I also had a pleasant man encounter at the coffee shop. I felt it was a sign of things to come. A reminder that there are ambassadors from the planet of men out there to greet me when I am brave enough to go there.
Anyway, I hope to get caught up on blogging soon. It has been very busy getting back home and back to the office after being gone for five days. I want to post pictures from the beauty I have seen but my daughter took my camera batteries and I did not get to take any. I will go back and return with photos.
More will be revealed.
posted by Cindy at
3:34 PM
2 Comments:
Ahh, Cindy...I'm so glad you're home! And I FEEL how you feel about the magical surprises in our own neighborhoods. Wish you were in mine...would love to have you meet me early and walk the beach when it is clean and spiritual and you just breathe. :-)
Thanks for sharing this beautiful prose... :-)
What Helen said. I am printing this one out so I can read it all day. Thanks for allowing God's love to shine through you. Amen
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