Sunday Walk

“Oh, God. I need to call them again.” My wife thought that thought or those thought every few weeks. The price of getting a Sunday New York Times delivered went back to its normal, way too high for us, price. She could call them. Say she was cancelling it. Explain the cost was too much. Be offered a “Special deal”, Take them up on it. Get a few weeks. See the price had gone up again. Repeat the process again. Until they time came that she did not want to bother with calling them and go through the process again. So she cancelled again. This time for good. No special would work this time. She cancelled.

In mid December I recalled her fondness for reading obituaries. I do not understand it or them. But she likes to read obits. I also remembered that the New York Times, Sunday edition, would publish their magazine, the last one of the year, filled with obits for all or at least a few special obits for the year. I could, I thought, pick up a Sunday New York Times and she could enjoy the obits. I, for once, thought about enjoying an obit or two. There were some untimely deaths this last year. It would be good to read what was remembered this year.

Today, the last Sunday of the year, I got up. It was twilight, dawn twilight, a favorite time of day. It was nearly 40 degrees, plenty comfortable. I thought it would be another great day for a walk. And I would get my daily walk done. So I did.

Hopefully the Sunday New York Times does the magazine of obituaries the first Sunday of a year to celebrate the deaths of the last year. They certainly were not in today’s issue. It was a good walk. Not quite two miles long and, Surprise!, I averaged 3.5 miles per hour. Which, for me, is a very fast pace. Now to maintain the pace while extending my distance. I did write about that a while ago, putting, myself on the hook. Making a promise in public. It is not something one should do. Do it first. Then talk about it later. I typically do things that way. It puts more pressure on myself to do “it”,

I will be out on the road next Sunday. On my way to Safeway. Hopefully — they will have it with the special edition of the magazine in the paper. Which, as I think about it, is the way they do it. Perhaps I was lying to myself. I needed a walk.

And I needed it.

— MichaelRpdx :: rkmm

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