The sun greeted me this morning when I woke up. It shown through my bedroom window beckoning. It was a welcoming sight after all of the rain that had saturated the city for the last few days. The grass and mud in my back yard were still damp but everything else was bare and dry. A nice long walk with the pup was exactly what the doctor ordered.
I brushed my teeth, laced up the tennis shoes, leashed the dog and headed out with just a light jacket, my ball cap and a pair of sunglasses. Guy was excited, so many new smells carried on a light breeze for his nose to go crazy over. Daffodils and tulips were poking their heads out to greet an early spring and the squirrels were abundant, searching for walnuts and chestnuts, hungry after a long winters nap. They seemed to have faired well through the mild winter, as most looked pretty fat and happy.
As we made our way through the back streets of the neighborhood the smell of the cherry blossoms took me back reminding me of childhood. We passed a school where a father was playing with his kids and a group of young pre-teens challenged one another to a physical game of basketball. What a beautiful morning it was and how good it made me feel. I soaked up the sun and the smells like a thirsty sponge.
Now the pup is tired and I feel refreshed. When you are leaving for almost a year tour in a country battered by war and horror, sand and heat, you want to retain those memories of easy times, the beginning of spring in your home town, the children laughing and playing, your neighbors working in their yards waving and smiling as you stroll by.
I will take all of that with me and more.
I brushed my teeth, laced up the tennis shoes, leashed the dog and headed out with just a light jacket, my ball cap and a pair of sunglasses. Guy was excited, so many new smells carried on a light breeze for his nose to go crazy over. Daffodils and tulips were poking their heads out to greet an early spring and the squirrels were abundant, searching for walnuts and chestnuts, hungry after a long winters nap. They seemed to have faired well through the mild winter, as most looked pretty fat and happy.
As we made our way through the back streets of the neighborhood the smell of the cherry blossoms took me back reminding me of childhood. We passed a school where a father was playing with his kids and a group of young pre-teens challenged one another to a physical game of basketball. What a beautiful morning it was and how good it made me feel. I soaked up the sun and the smells like a thirsty sponge.
Now the pup is tired and I feel refreshed. When you are leaving for almost a year tour in a country battered by war and horror, sand and heat, you want to retain those memories of easy times, the beginning of spring in your home town, the children laughing and playing, your neighbors working in their yards waving and smiling as you stroll by.
I will take all of that with me and more.
