Crazy Weather....

...for April.  Last week, we hit the 80s; yesterday, it was snowing and raw.  Last week, I was fretting about wearing shorts for the first time this year.  Shorts!  In April!  With my oh-so-white gams that haven't seen the sun since probably November.  It's always a struggle for me to figure out what to wear when the weather changes.  Not that I don't have clothes and not that I haven't been wearing the same clothes for a while...but my brain cuts and runs and my mirror does horrible things the first time I shed the winter clothes for more revealing ones.  Man, what we do to ourselves!  Why, oh, why are we so hard on ourselves about stuff like this?  Anyway....this is not at all what I was thinking about when I sat down to write this post!

Last week when the weather was in the 80s, I was out on my evening walk (wearing shorts! because I got over myself ;-), taking in the sky, the trees that are bursting forth, all the different daffodils and tulips and spring flowers, the variety of mellifluous birdsong, and as I strode down the sidewalk, a woman was heading right for me, totally engrossed in her phone, not at all looking where she was going, kind of weaving all over the sidewalk with absolutely no idea that she wasn't the only person in the world at that moment.  I decided to just get the heck out of her way and stepped onto the grass, which I am loath to do.  (Sidebar - when we were kids, we were NEVER to walk on anyone's lawn!  Dad took meticulous care of the grass, as did we at his bidding, his honeydos, and we were taught to respect all of our neighbors' and neighborhood's lawns, so I would go out of my way not to step on a single blade of someone else's grass.  That sticks with me to this day.)  As this woman ferociously passed me, still glued to her phone, something made her look up (perhaps my beaming presence) and she jumped and said, "Oh! I'm so sorry!"  I said, "No worries."  She said, "It's been one of those days."  And as I looked into her eyes, she looked...somewhat tortured and I felt so bad for her.  Not only because she was having one of those days, but because she was out on this beautiful evening and missing everything about spring and this amazing gift of an evening that was surrounding her that may have helped her cope with her day.  So I said, "I hope you have a beautiful evening.  And try to look up.  It's a gorgeous day."  She thanked me for being nice and barreled down the sidewalk in the opposite direction.  I watched her for a few moments.  She did look up....before looking back down, completely engrossed in her phone again.

So here's a thought for you.  When you're outside, be outside.  Be present.  Look.  Listen.  Breathe.  Acknowledge the world around you.  Your phone isn't going anywhere.  The news, your friend, the text, whatever, will all be waiting for you when you get home.  Give yourself the present of presence in nature.  Wishing you a beautiful walk.