I’ve been itching to be outside, going for walks. Yesterday it was in the upper 20s. While I realize that may sound very cold to others, it was welcome here where we have been below zero for a good part of February.

Mother Nature seems to have flip-flopped January and February because we should be in the mid 30s for this month. But yesterday, I got Kylie and Gidget out for a short walk. Neither like to walk too far, and Gidget really can’t go all that far because of her IVDD.

After I walked the girls, I dropped them off and continued on for a longer walk alone. This morning was below zero again and the wind is supposed to pick up later today making it feel colder as the day goes on.

I thought about using the excuse of the cold as a good reason for not walking, even though I didn’t want the weather to stop me either. I was going back and forth in my head, lying in bed.

But then I thought about the book I just finished reading, Walking Home: A Pilgrimage from Humbled to Healed and how author Sonia Choquette walked 500 miles in 30 days walking the famous Camino de Santiago. Most days she walked in pouring rain.

That was enough to motivate me to get outside and start walking. My mind so inspired I walked down to the lake (my body may regret this later on!). I hadn’t walked down there in quite some time.

How lovely to come across the park benches sitting in the snow, looking out over the lake. As if a promise, that soon, before we know it, sounds of children splashing in the water will be heard, boats skimming across the lake will echo off the shoreline, and dogs prancing happily down the brick path will cause people to pause and smile.

Images of people sitting upon the benches eating their ice cream cones, reading a good book, or gazing in meditation out into the still blue waters of Elkhart Lake filled my mind and suddenly I realized I had forgotten all about the cold.

Lost in my own meditation from my early morning walk. Now that is what it is all about. I’m so glad I ventured out.

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