Rethinking Me

Reverb10 Prompt: Moment

Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors).

(Author: Ali Edwards)

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I’d been developing an on-again-off-again running routine throughout most of 2010. I did most of this work solo, but one sunny morning in the late summer/early fall my daughter Zoe joined me for the first time. She had asked to come along on previous runs, but I was either too rushed or running too far to accommodate her. On this morning, I picked a small route familiar to both of us from a yearly school fun run and out the door we went.

The sun instantly warmed our bodies as we stepped across the street and set a manageable pace. I set what I thought was a moderate pace, but Zoe got winded by the first big hill and asked to  walk. A slight breeze provided relief and we started running in short run/walk intervals.

“Let’s run from here to the yellow bush at the end of the corner,” I said.

“That’s far,” she replied.

“Not too far, and I know you can do it.”

We ran and talked, walked and talked. Most importantly we spent more one-one-one time together than we had in quite some time. We talked about nothing specific…school, volleyball practice and friends. I remember little of what we said but will always remember the time we spent saying it.

Some choose to connect with God in a church building on Sunday mornings. I find my connection running alongside my daughter on the paved streets and sidewalks of Fayetteville.

posted: 10 December 27
under: Rethinking, Reverb10