I used to be a very good runner having qualified for Boston a few times.
I’m not anymore, but it’s OK.
I go for a 3 to 4 mile run every single day.
I tried to run under a target pace. It’s just a little goal I have.
I run with my Jack Russell named Luna. And usually on every run, somebody will stop and tell me how cute she is. Of course, I stop and talk to these people. It’s a neighborly thing to do.
Yeah she’s pretty cute for a bad dog. I wonder if it’s going to her head. She is better at taking compliments than I.
You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike?
This depends on which country.
European Trains
One thing that I absolutely love About Europe is that there is little use for a car. We take buses and trains to go almost everywhere. I’ve only driven once in Europe that was many years ago.
So yesterday we took a train from Mainz to Berlin with a stopover in Frankfurt. Train travel is quite pleasant. We had our own little room that we shared with a school teacher. She taught English and French in the Berlin school system. These random conversations while traveling are precious. Sometimes one must apologize for being Americans. And apparently you get the question what the Hell’s going on over there.
It was rather nice to watch the snow-covered fields pass by and little towns and villages. I packed the sandwiches vegan meat, using pickled onions my daughter made and of course German Brot I bought at the bakery earlier in the day.
When we were leaving the train the schoolteacher said to us, “you two make a great team”. She took my sons information and is going to use some of his artwork in her teachings.
I thought we could take trains, put wings on them and fly in the sky. This way I would not mind the flight back home so much.
Somewhere right now, a cat is deeply asleep while you are already anxious about your week.
It is not worried about its inbox. It is not calculating what it failed to accomplish last week or dreading what’s coming on Wednesday. It woke up, stretched with its entire body, looked at the Monday morning light, and made an immediate executive decision to return to the sunny spot.
No guilt. No justification. No “I’ll rest after I finish this.”
Just rest. Because rest is sacred. Because you cannot hunt on an empty spirit. Because even Cat God napped before creating the universe and the universe turned out fine.
Productivity culture wants you to believe that Monday is a debt you owe. That the weekend was borrowed time and now you must repay it with urgency and hustle and the performance of busyness.
The cat would like to formally object.
You are not behind. You are not failing. You are a creature that requires rest, warmth, connection, and the occasional moment of sitting in a sunbeam doing absolutely nothing.
The cat already knew this.
Maybe this Monday, let the cat be your teacher.
The only sin is cruelty. The only commandment is kindness. The rest — as always — is cats.
I believe the most confident living being that I know is too small for her gigantic shoes.
She will play the cute card if she has to.
She will start a fight or an argument with her counterparts on the street just for the hell of it and she doesn’t have to know what she’s talking about. She doesn’t care if it is ferocious or five times her size.
She will sleep with anybody as long as she wakes up warm and cuddly and doesn’t demand breakfast in the morning.
She wears the same outfit every day and doesn’t even bat an eye.
