Today I took a walk in Brookdale Park

without earbuds

Taking a walk in Brookdale Park is hardly remarkable. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a regular walker, that I walk fast, that I stop to take pictures, that I count my heart points, and that all my walking has aggravated my bunion.

Today, though, when I opened up my earbuds case and connected my bluetooth, I was stunned by the announcement, “battery low.” How could that be? I’d charged the case. The earbuds were in the case all night.

I thought about going home and getting something else to put in my ears. I’ve just started Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton. But I had just learned that my brother-in-law walks as much as five miles a day, listening to nothing other than his own thoughts. And, I thought, with reluctance, I guess I can do that too.

Moreover, I thought, I’ll notice more. And I did.

• the smell of pine needles

• the existence of bathrooms at the archery field

• how nice the newly turf fields actually looked (not that I approve I turf)

• how often I was pulling my mask up, and then down again, as people approached (this being day 8 of my Covid protocol)

• the ridiculously blue sky, and the ridiculously magnificent clouds

• how one of my favorite trees has a branch twisted over another branch, the way my mother’s toes cross each other

I checked my heart points more often than I usually do. I didn’t walk as far or score as many as usual.

As an exercise in spirituality, I think maybe I got a B. Maybe a B minus. I don’t remember thinking lofty thoughts. I got some exercise. I got some fresh air. I walked 2.44 miles and got 34 heart points.

But that tree, whose branches wrapped around each other like my mother’s toes, that was something.