First, I survived COVID but it kicked my butt for the better part of 2 weeks. My Running has not quite returned to where I was at before it hit me, but I am okay with that. Another August 01 has come and gone; I still do not know where She is and how She is doing, but I have to trust that The Universe & The Powers That Be (TPB) are caring for her. There are many random thoughts ... but one that stood out was a recent passing of a young mother. She was born during the week that I found recovery. Her entire life was officially not as long as my string of Just-For-Todays ... and she leaves behind a young son. The First time I met her she was a classmate of a person I would call a "friend". The last time that I can remember having seen her she was in recovery & had connected with some people who I felt indicated she was destined to succeed. Funny how things are not always what they seem.
Yesterday, while I was in the middle of a very hot and challenging run, I stopped at a gas-bar off the trail to buy a popsicle - 2 actually. when I came back out a gentleman who had been in his car when I walked in was standing there ... He said that he remembered me from a Learn To Run Clinic that we had both been in. That was about 18 years ago ... we chatted briefly while I ate one of my popsicles. He had not kept up with running but was impressed that I still ran. I told him that I was doing a fair bit more walking than I used to and that it was just as good as we get to be older. I hope that he finds some motivation & maybe one day I will see him out at a race again. I finished the first popsicle, unwrapped the second & bid him a good day ... I restarted my Garmin & got back to my run with my second popsicle in hand. Again, it is funny how you never really know who you touch as you pass through the world.
Lastly, in the past month or two (I do not do linear time well) ... two of the daughters of people I knew as young single moms back in the 80's (or was it the 90s) have gotten married. I remember the first time I met one - in a bassinette, in a parking lot - & the other in a stroller on a street corner - and while I know that both had grown and become young adults ... I marveled at the perfection of what is life. The turning of the wheel ... the cycle of omniscience, dust-wrapped-electrically-charged imperfection, & return to perfection .... As I hurtle through time & space, I think "funny how things just are". Be Well. Know that you are loved ...