Now that I'm walking and running most mornings I'm making a point of exploring, poking around different streets in my neighborhood.
Some of them are really beautiful.
I've started to see some of the same people each morning too, and we smile and wave at one another.
I'm starting to remember that I actually love to do this.
I've been a member of the Track Your Happiness Project for several years now. That's important, I'll get back to it shortly.
Today, I was having a conversation with Maya about the nature of our relationship, over my lunch hour. Maya has been my very good friend for more than a decade, and my more-than-a-friend for several years now.
It's hard to define what we are to one another. We don't have a good word for it, ourselves. She's always been there for me, and for Missy, too. She's helped me through some incredibly painful things, as I have for her. We love one another very much.
Having a unique, Indefinable relationship isn't all rainbows and Jelly Babies though. Sometimes it's challenging. I had a bit of an epiphany over something I haven't been doing well for a while, and called her up, excited to open the hood of this thing, and maybe tinker with the spark plugs of it with her.
We did. It was a great talk.
During the talk, I got a text from the Happiness folks, and they asked me "To what extent are you growing as a person as a result of what you're doing right now?"
My answer: A LOT.
The neat thing about these sorts of moments is that they help me grow holistically. I learn a little bit more about who and what I am, and how I relate to those I care about each time I have one of these "growth opportunities."
I'm pretty lucky.
So I'm on my new schedule for work. That means I have the time in the mornings to go running. It's a big gift really. I'm sitting on my front steps right now, resting after a 45 minute walk.
"Kids only. No grownups. TIME MACHINE."
It's daunting to be getting started again, I'll admit that. But I feel so fortunate to be able to do so. I saw something this morning that struck me funny as I was walking.
It was a box that some kids had been playing with. Their mom or dad threw it out, and it is now filled of garbage. But for a little while it was some kid's Time Machine.
I'm glad I ran into it. In a way my morning workout is kind of like my own time machine.
Specifically I mean Steven Universe, the cartoon by Rebecca Sugar.
Steven is a young half-human boy. He's part "Crystal Gem", a species of people from another world based on geological objects He's sort of part super hero and part little kid. He's funny, sweet, kind, moderately obnoxious in a charming way. He makes up songs about things. He loves people.
He reminds me so damn much of little mako, the other guy I carry around in my head. I just binge watched 14 episodes of the darn thing, and am utterly and completely in love with it. It's funny, wise, and a tiny bit transgressive. It pokes fun at social norms. Steven is something of an unwitting gender and culture outlaw. He doesn't act the way he does to spite social norms - he's just sort of immune to them.
It's brilliant. I'm glad it's around.
Check it out. I bet you will fall in love with it too.
