Lately,I have been walking with a fair amount of regularity and the effort I put into the walking has made me feel physically and emotionally much better. In this pursuit of healthful practices, we can have lots of friends and family members encourage us to walk, but the real difference for me has been the comraderie element that has emerged from within the sisterhood of daughters.
This sisterhood is a tightly knit group, woven from the beautifully diverse threads of our family life stories that rival the best novels written today. Our novel is non-fiction however, and we lived it all, chapter upon chapter, rather than just read a few pages, perhaps only the good parts, and then place it back on the shelf.
These sisters love each other passionately, accept each other with flaws and foibles in place, and encourage each other by active listening. This active listening I have observed over the years and have been amazed at it's power and strength of purpose.
Julie is running in a marathon, she tells us , either next year or the year after. This takes taining , "specific training," sigh, "mother!" The benefit of Julie's training has been the kick in the butt motivation it has been to several of us, myself for walking , and the sisters, for running.
When one person in the sisterhood posts a facebook status update relaying the mileage and rate of running for that day, it has been within moments that another sister comments on her status or desire to match it. This has been fun stuff! and not wanting to miss out , I am walking with much more enthusiasm , albeit still alone.
Sadly for the impatient reader, that was all introduction to the real silverware find. You may throw that part in the trash, should you think it unworthy of the read.
Walking has been a very helpful way for me to stay in shape and fit, always sounding worse than it is in actuality once I get started. I have used it personally as a time to talk to my faithful best friend Jesus, to go before the personal God of heaven in prayer for myself, my family and friends,and to thank Him for His quite beautiful creation. I love watching the birds and seeing if I can identify them, or see where they are living along my way. I get very excited if I see a flower that is hard for me to grow, or one that I can photograph well.
But still, I feel so alone sometimes, wishing I could chatter the mile away faster or discuss a current reading topic or laugh at a joke shared for the moment.
Yesterday Ethan went on the walk with me. He called it running, but anyone who knows me knows that is just not happening.We walked fast, I'll give him, but we most clearly did not run. Who ran were his mom and dad, staying ahead of us, tantalizing us with the thought that maybe we would catch up with them! Remember Julie training for her marathon? Well,Julie is Ethan's mom and somehow yesterday dad Adam thought he would join the fun. off they ran, off we walked behind. Ethan said over and over, as most 3 year olds are found doing (repeating, often) "where are mommy and daddy?" and "Are they ahead of us,up there?" or, " Wanna catch them Grammy?"
In one spot we were passed by a young runner and Ethan said "let's run like him Grammy!Is he catching mommy and daddy?" I will tell you that my once boring walk became hilariously Fun!! The young runner smiled and waved, the bicyclist tore by us for the third time in one 1/2 mile section, the birds were twittering frantically as they saw Ethan approach..oh there was activity and excitement all around this walk!!
Mom and dad were oblivious up ahead, focused on their task of running at the right pace and distance, but we were having a blast. As we rounded one huge bend in this track, there was nobody visible anywhere and I thought how serene and lonely it felt, wondering in my heart to my God and walking companion where all the people were on such a lovely evening ??
No sooner had I thought that question when we suddenly came around the bend and saw the straight away ahead. I laughed out loud. There were at least a dozen different groups of people , biking, walking, running, exercising, jogging, all just out of our view until we kept walking forward. They undoubtedly each had their own purposes and plans for the evening unfolding. Maybe some were ecstatically happy , some might have experienced a loss that day, some needed to slim down a bit , some needed to be alone and think , some might have wanted to train for marathons! Some of us out there just were so thankful to have a chattering walking companion to pass the time with more delight than usual.
The great revelation hit. Life is like my walks.
I often feel so alone in life, walking with no husband at my side, no constant companion of fleshly nature, no person to rattle and share my thoughts with. But somehow as I rounded that bend on the track with Ethan yesterday , I laughingly discovered that more often than not, if I keep walking forward, there are LOTS of people right ahead, all with problems and priotities, with joys and trials, with people at their side, or not, just like me.
Furthermore, we do need people for these long walks through life. People help us redirect negative thoughts into positive actions. People make us feel less vulnerable, so that when we trip and fall there will be someone to either pick us up, or laugh hilariously at us and remind us how silly we look. Ethan fell once, and as I picked him up he said "where did mommy and daddy go? up in the sky?" People make the long trip seem shorter, time goes by faster.
The other lesson I learned on this very productive walk yesterday, was that if other people can motivate and encourage me by merely joining in, what would happen if I used my energies to help someone else be motivated and help them begin their walk , together with me? What if instead of being sad that I had no husband at my side, I became an Ethan at my friend's side?
Oh my goodness, what if I trained to run a marathon??
Silverware rescued! Trash, down the drain into the garbage disposal. Good walk.
1 comment:
Oh how I enjoyed reading this post! Reading about the sisters makes me miss them dearly. Makes me miss you dearly when reading your writing! Makes me remember my sister and our love and acceptance of one another..
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