Paying the Piper

My eyes glued to a branch of bright golden leaves gaily fluttering among its host of bright green neighbors, I find myself already pining for a summer too soon ending.

I am certain my sometimes frantic desire to cram as much as possible into this summer season, especially early on, stemmed from my deep need to make up for an entire year lost. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in this yearning.

Entering every single Scent Work, K9 Nose Work and Barn Hunt trial available to me (starting last February!), and combining each with an RV outing as soon as temperatures allowed in early May – I flung myself into these activities.

I pushed forward with little physical preparation after a long stretch of time with insufficient exercise. I literally overdid to the point of injuring myself, and even then, although I gave in enough to seek medical help, continued to push my 71-year-old body until it finally rebelled and one day I found myself unable to walk at all.

This was a reckoning I hadn’t seen coming, and it rocked me back on my heels (no pun intended). In the past, I’ve always been able to work through aches and pains, recovering strength quickly. Not so this year.

It was, perhaps, foolish to have pushed myself so hard. Moderation would have been more sensible after over a year of relative inactivity, but I could not seem to help myself.

I wasn’t getting any younger, and there was so much I wanted to do!

Now I find myself wondering if the summer has flown by so quickly partly because I have neglected to slow down and enjoy it.

As I sit here, sipping the last of my morning coffee, I ponder the future. I’ve reconciled myself to the knowledge that I won’t be driving my beloved “Roada” south this fall.

Between the uncertainty of the ongoing Covid pandemic and my own health concerns, this just isn’t the year to go haring off into a foreign country (not even Canada) by myself.

Still, I ache for more. Just one really long road trip. I daydream about it constantly.

Maybe next year.