Our Old Life

I think all of us who have been working so hard preparing the Hickory Street house for sale are feeling as Martha and I are feeling now - at loose ends.  It is one thing to say that now we can return to our "Old Life," but it is more difficult in practice.  "Remember when we used to read books?" Martha asked one evening this week as we were eating dinner on our deck.  It seemed as if there was plenty of time for such a pursuit only a few months ago.

With the sudden availability of free time, and in keeping with the name of this blog, "Highlands Roadrunner," I threw myself into running - climbing Bearpen Mountain on Monday, and trying my first set of intervals in a month on Wednesday, then cleaning the walks with Clorox and mowing the yard.  Thursday morning I was heading out the door again.  "Where are you going?" Martha said.  "You ran yesterday!  You don't have to run every day."  It seems that this is a refrain I hear from my wise spouse often, and this time I heeded it.  In my running log I simply wrote"REST," and that's exactly what I did.  Later in the week, she posted this on the little blackboard in our kitchen.

Every runner should have this hanging over his desk, or perhaps in the closet over his running shoes.  As a result of taking a day of rest, I awoke on Friday morning feeling refreshed, and I dived into the next project, shelves and a closet rod in our sunroom closet where we can organize shoes and exercise equipment.  It is satisfying when even a simply project like this moves forward from plan on paper to completion.

The weather turned cooler and drier overnight as a cold front slipped into Highlands from the northwest, and it made for ideal running conditions for the first time in several weeks.  We had found ourselves during the past two weekends enjoying talking to the hordes of people who had attended the estate sale, some of them friends and others complete strangers.  We realized we had not been socializing very much during this time of pandemic and social distancing.  We have missed seeing people!  It was the same today as we met old friends for a long run and chatted with dog-walkers all along the way. 

After I finished running, I went to Dusty's to stock up on biscuits and wild-caught salmon.  Lou was at the cash register, and as he added up my purchases he asked me how I was doing today.  "Great!" I said.  "It's a beautiful day, I just ran seven miles, and I'm buying the best salmon in Town!  What could be better?"  A complete stranger in line behind me said, "I can't argue with that!"