Life got crazy. It's nothing earth shattering, and in the grand scheme of things, it's all minor and will be short lived. But it's hard to remember that when you're in the thick of it, isn't it? It's difficult to keep moving forward when you feel the weight of life bearing down. For me, I keep hearing myself say, "I just want to lie down." Which is usually the best indicator that I should do the exact opposite.
I asked Zoe to go for a walk with me yesterday. I had work and a thousand things to do around the house, she had homework and SnapChat and a thousand other things to do, as well, but we went. Whenever life gets a little crazy, I start to feel guilty because I don't feel like I am giving enough of myself to her, and despite her insistence that she's "FINE, MOM", we set out on the trail to spend at least a little time together without the distractions that pop up on a regular basis these days.
As we were walking past her best friend's house, we decided to stop to see if her friend wanted to walk for awhile. The friend wasn't home. The friend's dog, Bella, was. We patted the dog and headed on our way, but the dog had already accepted the invitation on behalf of her absent young lady, and Bella ran ahead of us on the trail for a mile, stopping to check back with us every so often. We lost sight of her at one point, only to have her pop out of a corn field, and scare a little pee out of at least one of us. (No names.) (It was me.) We got back to Zoe's friend's, but the dog wasn't ready to end the adventure yet. So we walked around Placek Park for another 20 minutes, trying to convince her that my calf muscles have an expiration date. Zoe called her friend, the dog ran out in front of a car and gave us a collective heart attack. The dog ran towards a family, we screamed that she is "SUPER NICE! SHE DOESN'T BITE!" After crossing the street and checking very carefully into some dumpsters, where Zoe and I finally just sat down on the concrete of the walking trail and clapped a lot and called her name, Zoe's friend and her mom came and got the dog, and we gathered our exhausted legs and walked the rest of the way back to my car, where we clocked in with over six thousand steps, two thousand of which we owe solely to Bella the Dog.
To the general public, we looked like a couple of girls who weren't smart enough to put our dog on a leash. To the dog, we looked like easy marks in a game of tag. To my tired, somewhat overwhelmed heart- we looked like exactly what I needed.
We will keep moving forward. When we come across problems, we will put our heads down and clap and look silly to the people standing around us. We may even walk around with the problem for a while, just to see if it resolves itself. We will come out on the other side, tired and sore, but stronger. And then we will wake up tomorrow and do it all again.
"If you want to walk fast- walk alone. If you want to walk far- walk together."- African Proverb
