Wednesday, January 29, 2025

A Warm Day in January: Relatively Speaking

"Freedom is the oxygen

of the soul."

Moshe Dayan

 

 What a day it was to be out on the bike!  A treat after being sedentary from cataract surgery.  To ride was like coming home.  The wind seemed to welcome me and I knew without looking that my cheeks had been slapped to the point of being ruddy.  I knew without looking that a smile had eased the wrinkles that now haunt my face so deeply and thoroughly.  Oh, I thought, we normally talk of the arrogance of youth, but there is also, I suppose, the arrogance of health.  How I have missed being active and being outside.  How I have missed getting away from the news that causes my soul to despair. And there is no place I would rather be right now other than where I am:  on the seat of a bicycle exploring. 


I was starved for this, this feeling that I get when the road rolls itself out before me beckoning and promising.  When you ride outside, you never know what the road and the day may hold.  I have to pay more attention to the road than is my wont due to the occasional patch of ice that has hidden itself in the shade of a tree.  But I see so much more clearly now and, since my pace is slow, I do not fear that I shall miss one and take a tumble.    The snow is mostly melted from the fields, but in the forested areas it remains, a reminder of what has been.  Despite the fact I am heartily sick of it, it is beautiful.  God works in unexpected ways and his sending the snow and ice certainly made acceptance of my required down time more acceptable.  


As I near home, there is a lone turkey in the road.  I then see his friends in the neighboring field and laugh as the rafter runs for safety.  Overhead, two or three times, Sand Hill Cranes pass overhead purring.  My phone rings and I ignore it.  I laugh out loud like a crazy woman.   I try to ignore my legs which are telling me it is time to stop, but their grumbling soon overcomes my pleading and we make the final turn for home.  Despite the shortness of my ride, only thirty miles or so, today my soul got what it needed from my short spate of freedom.   And I do so look forward to seeing the earth wake up with my new eyes that see colors and shapes so much more brightly than before.  I have truly been blessed.