My Instead: Annette and I took a nature walk at St. Joe's State Park with no phones or cameras.
My girlfriend Annette and I both had
Monday off and another day to enjoy each other and the autumn weather. So we
did what any two all-American girls would do…we took a truckload of trash to
the recycling center. We filled the bed of Annette’s truck with about a month’s
worth of trash and headed over to the small town of Flat River.
While on the road admiring the
weather and the autumn scenery, we realized that neither one of us had our
phones. We hoped we wouldn’t break down and then pretty much forgot about it. When
we arrived at the recycling center, we quickly unloaded her truck and were on
our way back in no time. I saw several scenery shots that I would have loved to have taken, but having
no phone or camera made that impossible. Oh, well.
Then I got this notion. Wouldn’t it
be a trip if we went for a nature walk on this beautiful day with no photography
device! Annette, of course, complied with my idea and made a few turns to get
us onto the road to St. Joe’s State Park. A leafy path was there waiting for us
to tread. The sun was in and out of the fickle cloud cover. As we began our
stroll, Annette and I took turns saying “oh, that would be a cool shot!” And then
we would remember…no camera, no shot.
As we continued our little hike, we
found ourselves not talking. I asked Annette what she was thinking and she
revealed that it was about some things she wanted to get done at home and off
her list. Of course, I was no better…my mind had been wandering miles away and at miles per
hour. This is crazy! As I stepped onto my soap box, I rendered my recurring
concern about "not being in the moment"…and then reminded us both of where we were!
She agreed that this was NOT the place to be thinking about stuff you could do
nothing about.
As we continued our little hike,
(yes, this paragraph started the same as the previous one) neither one of us could
shut up. We talked about so many things we were seeing, what they reminded us
of, and how lucky we were to be together enjoying these moments. Then I stood off
into the rough and asked Annette what phrase would describe where I am. Not
knowing how my mind works, she was clueless. But after a few hints, she got it!
I was “off the beaten path”. Then we commenced with this whole long conversation
about how we spend most of our life “on” the beaten path…doing our job, doing
chores, doing what’s expected, etc. Then we talked about how happy and grateful we both were to be off that path for a while today.
Our mindset leaving St. Joe’s State
Park was a bit of an oxymoron because our minds were no longer set in their
ways. We were both on fire with a determination to vacate that beaten path once in a
while…for a moment, an hour, a day, whatever. If you don’t seize these times,
what is left? Where have you really gone in this life? The journey is every day and it’s
right here…not on some beach, some resort, some dude ranch, Times Square, the
Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Hawaii. Those things are for the bucket list. Let’s call this “the
thimble list” and everything on it is simple…but not ordinary. And you can do
it “instead” of what you’ve been doing…if only for a moment…
And by the way, there are no photos available for this blog...go figure.
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