Surroundings

Yesterday I parked at the little beach here on the lake and ran on the boardwalk and then through the town square and out past the ball fields and the schools to the airport. I've done this run a lot since we moved here. It's a nice run and in the beginning I used to really "look" at my surroundings. As with anything else we humans do, as we get more used to where we are we don't see things the way we did when they were new to us.

Early in the morning the beach is so nice and peaceful. No one is up yet, no screaming kids in the water, just the lapping of waves on the sand and a few ducks. I love this time of the day, it seems that I notice the beauty of my surroundings more in the early morning. The sun reflecting off of the water, the fish jumping out past the boardwalk. I think we need to pay more attention to what is around us all the time, not just when it's new to us.

Then on to the square, a cute little Texas square with the courthouse in the middle, shops and businesses all around it. The morning is the time when it begins to come alive. Folks arrive to get their stores ready for tourists. They open their doors, sweep off the sidewalk, water the flowers in the pots they all have outside, say good morning to one another and share a coffee at the local coffee shop. Although it's terribly hot in the middle of the day, the mornings are still nice enough that being outside is refreshing, so they all mingle and visit, and decide that today will be a good day for business.

Then I run down through some old neighborhoods, some houses from the 1400's. They are beautiful and call out with a history we can never know.

On to the ball fields, all empty, sprinklers taking advantage of the morning. And then past the schools. This is the week they begin their quest for education once again, or their parents quest for their education. The students have not arrived but the teachers are arriving, chatting about the summer ending and now they have to work again. What will their students be like this year I hear one say. New superintendent, will he help or hurt? Amazing what you hear while you are running.

And so a new cycle begins. And it's beautiful to be alive to see another cycle. Just wish my knee would quit hurting :).