Who cares about the weather - go on your daily walk anyway!

January 7, 2010

Well that sucked! My lab and I just got back from our normal morning walk; and with today’s blinding wind and snow, this arctic air is starting to get old real fast.

While I was thinking about how miserable I was, my dog was running all over the place, and lo and behold, she was having fun! The wind chill was around 25 below with driving snow, and she was having a great time chasing all the papers flying down the street! Yup, she was doing her duty of protecting me from all the dangerous papers blowing at me! Attagirl!

I was staring down at the ground so I could keep my direction going straight, but I kept hearing a snapping noise. I looked up to see a flag at full mast waving in the driving and blinding snow. My thoughts turned to our soldiers working in 102 degree heat in Iraq and Afghanistan, keeping us safe.

As bad as it was, walking on the icy streets, seeing that flag reminded I how thankful I am to be walking and not in a wheelchair. Granted, my arms may not look the way I want them to look, I can’t bike as fast as I want to for as long as I would like, and my squatting 405 at times seems really really heavy. . . BUT… I can breathe fine and all of my limbs work just fine, my body still works just fine and I have nothing to whine about. I took a deep breath of that icy air and gave thanks to God.

When we came to the intersection 1 block from my house, my doggie wanted to turn and go around the big block to add another mile to our walk (in this bone-chilling weather?!). I rewarded her for all her work protecting me from flying paper, turned the corner and added one more mile to our walk. We both deserve it. Besides she was loving all this snow and wind.

We got home from our 3 mile walk and I fed her breakfast and after she was done (30 seconds later) she came over to say thank you as always by licking me to death – Yuk!

Remember, sometimes your actions are really appreciated by others even though they might not say anything at the time (if at all). In other situations, you might be the light at the end of the tunnel for someone else who is struggling with something harder that what you are going through.

I sure glad that it is going to be nicer tomorrow; sunny and a high of 12!

-SA