WALK & CAR pt.3

The humidity takes a break from beating us all to Hell and it is a beautiful evening. I take my first walk in almost three months because I have had to rest my right knee, apparently a victim of a Baker’s cyst. I feel unfettered and free to
move this old body through the waning light.

Evening is my favorite time, just as Fall is my favorite season. The light rays bend through redness, the shadows lengthen and harshness of daylight softens and takes on a patina of mystery.

I can’t imagine going through this one and only life without exercising and stretching and strengthening my mind as well as my body. I remember seeing the very elderly Jimmy Stewart on the Johnny Carson show speaking about aging and describing how he felt the same inside as he had always felt but that, when he looked in the mirror, he saw an old man staring back at him.

We spend so much time entertaining our minds and it is so easy to forget that the mind is a universe unto itself. We use so little of it. So many of us find a niche and spend an entire life on rewind and replay.

I walk and see a young guy with a cool hat. He’s got that youthful thinness that I used to have. Parents are throwing baseballs to their kids, pushing strollers, making sure little bike riders don’t ride into the traffic. The weather pushes this activity into high gear and I am right with it.

I circle around and start walking down a somewhat steep hill that leads to my home. Parked at the curb is that vintage Mercedes I always spot on my walks.
I always wonder who the owner is. Someone I could easily talk to, I think. Maybe someone who is a beer snob like me (IPA’s and Pale Ales) or who also loves blended red wine. I would be uneasy leaving that car at the curb. I’d want to keep it in my bedroom.

Roaring up the street is one of those Hummers. It is a huge, bloated, obnoxious hulk.
I like to think that I can converse with just about anyone. I know that I could talk with the owner of that monstrosity. But I could never befriend them.