Enjoy it while you can.
You’ve heard it before, probably several hundred times, but consider this a reminder. Enjoy it while you can, make the best of the moment, live the present… however you want to phrase it, do it. I’ve been very aware of this since I left Austin, for I know that this will not happen again. Nothing happens again for that matter; - it may repeat itself, but every time it will be a bit different, so if you’re loving what you’re living, enjoy it, consciously, and all I mean by that is stop for a second and give notice to the fact. While you’re there, you might also give thanks and show gratitude.
I totally enjoyed my walk today. It’s kind of fun just to walk out of a motel at some little intersection in Maryland and literally get on a little country road fifty feet later. There are no elevators, no finding your car in the parking lot, none of that civilized stuff. Just me and my backpack, which I haven’t mentioned lately only because it has become a non-issue. Don’t get me wrong - I love my backpack, it has carried everything I’ve needed for almost three months but carrying it has become as routine and easy as putting my wallet in my back pocket. And today I discovered a new feature… It keeps me warm, nice little windbreak from the breeze, which in the morning was chilly and quite the contrast from even a month ago when it was still sweltering in Tennessee.
So out the door, onto the road, one of the prettiest roads so far. Everything was just about perfect. Air was crisp and fresh, mid- forties, sunny, not a cloud in the sky, about half the leaves left on the trees. I did stop a couple of times to just appreciate, nothing else. I was wishing it wouldn’t stop just about when it did, but I enjoyed every pain-free step. And just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, Maps took me to a beautiful trail that runs along the old Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. Yeah, I didn’t know it existed either, but in its time, it was an important waterway transporting coal from the Allegheny mountains down the Potomac to the DC area. The trail itself was flat and even, through some beautiful woods, devoid of people! Then into Brunswick to resume my road walking toward Frederick - it was everything but flat!
Here in Frederick, it is definitely more urban, being less than 50 miles from DC, about 50 to Baltimore. I’ve been here a couple times before and chuckled all day at the difference in circumstance. The last time I was here I was in a suit, a tie and a starched shirt. I was here to give a high-level presentation on digital x-ray equipment to the brass at Fort Detrick, home to the Unites States Army Medical Material Agency, known in the biz as USAMMA. One of my earliest customers at Kodak was Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, arguably one of the best hospitals in the world, and most all procurement went through USAMMA. For years I heard the acronym and it was fun to finally see the infamous USAMMA, which turned out to be just a normal DoD building with a bunch of people inside, making decisions about procurement of medical equipment for the army hospitals around the country and world, nothing more, I remember that day well, for after my presentation (which I nailed by the way), I drove into Annapolis before going to the airport and loved walking around the old town. I’ll let you guess which trip I am enjoying more.
I’m also chuckling about the weather, again. The next ten days in the mid-Atlantic region and into NY are going to be “unseasonably cold”, “ten to fifteen degrees below normal” and “will feel more like January.” Bring it on I say… I’ve made it through the hottest August on record, the hottest September, so it’s just appropriate that perhaps it’ll be the coldest November, they’re already talking about breaking records, in the cold direction. Cold does make for great walking though, nothing another layer can’t fix.
Leave you with some pictures… have to finish up my presentation for USAMMA tomorrow. Aughh, even joking about it makes me cringe. I enjoyed it back then, and did a good job, but can’t see myself doing it again. Never say never though… and enjoy it while you can :-)
