Atomic thoughts

Monday, Nov. 9, 2009

Pilates, walks, swimming, biking, letters, email, decluttering, blogging, and thinking – that’s how I’m filling my days now. When I bounded into the Pilates mat class at Physical Edge this morning, messy as all get out, packing enough crap to make “my spot” on the studio floor look like a camp site, my friend Jon Watterson said, “You are a poster child for retirement! It really agrees with you.” Made my day, let me tell you.

A big difference in me these days is that each action, activity, thought and even the things I see with my eyes are more separate, more deliberate. I’m not sure how, but each action seems to be broken down to its atomic parts: I pulled over on my bike near the campus HR office to paw through my bag and check my phone calendar to see if I was missing a retiree presentation on benefits. I could see each Kleenex in my bag, I noticed the peeling plastic coating on the bike basket liner, and the people biking by were individuals to my eyes. I found the phone and saw that, sure enough, the retiree meeting had started nine minutes before at the other end of campus. I resigned myself to signing up for another session of the same presentation (will I really go?), and finished the ride home. I love riding by the trees with changing leaf colors that line the bike path from the east to the west side of campus. I think they are pepper trees like the one in our common area.

I saw my friend Susy Arriaga and her reddish-brown border collie Brodie in the fields near the path; they were finishing their walk and I found out how to get to the campus sheep barns from Susy. Had to take Taj on a walk after seeing them. We didn’t make it to the sheep barns but instead made the rounds of interesting UC Davis ag fields and I got photos of the group of amazing chestnut trees (are six trees an orchard?), and some luscious fat olives. Each day I feel blessed to live here.

[Top photo: Chestnut nestled in sticker-covered pod. Bottom photo: Olives ripening.]