So I was thinking...

Last night, I was on a walk with the hound and the baby after the big kids went to bed. It was about 7:45 p.m., and as I was walking down one stretch of residential area in The Woods, I thought about how quiet and still it was. Absolutely silent, even as I walked down this row full of houses, most with their lights on. Then I thought about how quiet the world gets in the evening. Then I thought that that wasn't necessarily true. I thought that maybe just my world gets quiet in the evening. Then I thought that at that moment, in Miami, there were lots of clubs that were probably barely even open yet, but that those places wouldn't resemble the street I was walking down in the least. I thought about people getting crazy and partying in those clubs in ridiculous clothing. I thought about the cast of Jersey Shore partying in Miami, actually. And then, since I was thinking about Miami, I started thinking about the ocean, which is my favorite thing to think about. And then I started thinking of all the places I've dipped my toes in the ocean, and how indescribably happy and calm the ocean makes me feel. And then I thought how weird it was that at that moment, the water was lapping at the shores of those special places where I like to dip my toes in the ocean, even though I wasn't there to feel it. (But I could feel it, just a little.) And then I thought how strange it was how it seems like the only place in the world that exists is the place where you actually are, but really, every place you've ever been is carrying on simultaneously, even as that fact is the furthest thing from your mind. And it made me glad the ocean was able to do it's thing every day, just waiting for me to come visit again. And then, as I was sort of power-walking, I thought about all the retirees in their cute, coordinating fitness gear that have retired to the ocean, and the fact that every morning, they get up, put on their moisture-wicking fabrics with built-in SPF, and power-walk down the shore. And then I felt jealous of them for a minute, and decided that I absolutely have to retire to an oceanside location some day. And then I thought that as much as I'd like to do that, I'll want to be near my kids (and presumably grandkids), so it won't be a viable option to just up and buy an oceanside condo. So then I decided I'll have to be a snow bird. And then I wondered if I'll ever get bored when I'm retired. And then I remembered that I never, ever get bored, because I always have enough stuff going on in my head--real and invented--that boredom can't find any space to get in. And then I thought about how when I was retired and spending time near the ocean, I'd walk around a lot and swim a lot and get a kayak. And then I imagined my gray-haired retired self kayaking, and I wondered if I was imagining my 70-year-old self kayaking or if I was just wishing my current self was kayaking, and I really wasn't sure. And then I thought that I'd like to be the kind of retiree who power-walks and kayaks, but there's a chance that I'd be the kind of retiree who would pick their retirement destination based on the accessibility of medical care. And then I thought I was pretty sure I'd be the kind of retiree who kayaks. And then I thought of my best friend, and how we would kayak together when we're old and retired. And then I thought of how we would travel to all sorts of fabulous places together and take cooking classes abroad and things like that, and leave our husbands behind. And then I thought about making little retired-person meals for me and Big K, and imagined myself making a big production of cutting a grapefruit in half for me and Big K to share for breakfast, and setting it out using decent dishes on a little table with a modest vase of flowers on it, and how I'd tell my friends, "Well, Big K and I split a grapefruit every morning," in the way that old people tend to make conversations out of sharing the mundane details of their lives. And then I thought that Big K would never let us retire to anywhere oceanside year-round anyhow, because he gets too hot if it's over 65 degrees. And then I looked up to the sky, and saw how bright and clear the stars were, and felt happy that I lived somewhere that I could see them so well. And then I thought of Miami again, and Snooki and Pauly D partying it up down there, and how I bet they never saw the stars. And then I walked into my driveway, got the mail, and saw I had a Real Simple magazine in there, and when I got into the house, I opened it up and read a quote on the first page, which said, "I am younger each year at the first snow. When I see it, suddenly, in the air, all little and white and moving; then I am in love again and very young and I believe everything." And then I was struck by how perfectly that captured the way I feel every single year when I see the first snow. And then I felt unbelievably content.

And that is why I take walks.