Everything Nice Has A Price

One of the nice things in life that I don't have time to enjoy very often is being outside, and even less, being outside and getting some exercise.
When my body is treated to a refreshing walk in the great place of outside and when my lungs have been filled over and over with fresh outside air, and when my muscles have worked and carried my body up a hill and around and about, and when my eyes have witnessed the hawk on the telephone line or the squirrels rustling in the leaves over there under those trees (and sometimes the eyes will see deer crossing the road or over in the field,) when I feel the wind on my cheeks, the cold air in my lungs, the breeze blowing through my hair, the feeling of pushing it when I am near the top of the hill insisting that I maintain the momentum, and when my ears hear the rustling of leaves, or the barking of a dog or two, or the sounds that are not the the air-conditioning in the office or the buzzhumming or the fluorescent lights or the clicketyclicking of keyboards or the digital ringing of telephones..... then my soul is fed and is feeling Nice.

This time of year it is pitch dark at 6 am where I live. Getting up and going for that morning walk before I have to leave for work by 7:30 am is possible but not practical. So this time of year it is more practical to go walking after work, sometime between picking up the boys from school and then making dinner and homework monitoring and showers and the getting ready for bed and maybe maybe maybe a tiny minute of knitting or painting or reading or photoshop, or??? (All of these tiny minute things, by the way, are in reality pathetic attempts to throw nibbles of nice to my soul. Image, if you will, being thrown nibbles, only nibbles, and only in tiny spur on the moment minutes, to feed your stomach. Imagine. Starvation.)

So. Since the days are obviously too short to do all these things with any heart, I have tried to rearrange the day a little, in my favor, sure, but at the same time the world that revolves around me (!) also benefits. After a talk with my boss, I got the go-ahead to flex my hours so that my start time is earlier and my quit time is earlier - on most days. On the days that J works, for example, I flex back to "normal" hours. Coming in early to work increases my productivity - the hour or two before the rest of the office shows up has always been more productive time for me. Less distractions, etc. A pretty sweet deal, and generously available from the company and my boss. With this kind of schedule I can squeeze in a powerwalk outside after work, before I pick up the boys and head home to the routines. My soul could be fed. And wouldn't a fed and happy soul in the Mom be nice for everyone?

You would think.