Walking in the cold
15/01/20 04:17
One of the gifts of Susan’s recovery is that we have started walking together daily. We try for a brisk 30 minutes each day. The walking gives us intentional time for talking, though sometimes we just walk in silence as well. Now that we are into the routine, with a couple of months’ practice under our belts, we are finding that we enjoy walking outdoors as much as possible. We walk outside even when it is cold. Having said that, our winter has been fairly mild so far. Yesterday when we walked temperatures were in the teens. The wind, however, was calm. We bundled up and walked to a cafe for lunch, where we could warm up before tackling the second half of our walk. I also walked to a meeting that was at another church yesterday, so I got my miles without suffering from the cold.
Today it is below zero and the forecast is for the cold to linger, only making it into the teens - perhaps as warm as yesterday, but later in the day. And it is a very busy day in which we might not have time to walk together. I’ve gone through my meetings and identified one that will give me a couple of miles, so it’ll be long underwear and layers of clothing for me today. I think we can find a help hour in the afternoon to walk together as well.
Walking is a way to feel alive. Even experiencing the cold is a reminder that we are alive and that we have certain strengths. I grew up where it gets cold - even colder than it does here, or at least that is the way I remember it. We had some rules about the cold that seem to reinforce that. I know that if the temperature is colder than -20f you need to wear a face mask. At -30f we could ask for a ride on our paper routes. At -40f there were no flights at our airport. I also know that -40 is the same on the Celsius scale as Fahrenheit. It seems to me that we got a stretch of -20f nearly every winter. -30 and colder was rare and worthy of quite a bit of conversation.
I get pleasure out of walking. Even when I have a small ache or pain, it serves as a reminder that I have muscles that work for me. I’ve never suffered the serious problems that many others have experienced. I’ve never had serious arthritis in a major joint. My hands get a little stiff, but my knees and hips work well. My ankles flex the way they are supposed to. I know that those who have serious problems with their joints cannot walk without pain. It is different for them.
Our walks this winter are taken in the context of a heightened awareness of our mortality. Susan’s brush with cardiac arrest and her time in the hospital made both of us deeply aware that our time in this life is limited. It gives us a deeper appreciation of simple, everyday things that we used to take for granted. I don’t know how long we will sustain that sense of the preciousness of our time, but it seems very present in our thinking right now. Each conversation is a blessing that we might not have gotten were it not for the swift and proper intervention of medical professionals. We are grateful for the time we have.
Because exercise is an important part of maintaining heart health, we have taken it seriously. When we had our first post-hospitalization with Susan’s electrophysiologist, we asked what we could do to participate in the healing. He responded, “Exercise.” We asked how much. He said “30 minutes, 5 times a day.” I was doing the mental math of how much that would alter our lifestyle when he corrected himself. “I meant 5 times a week, not 5 times a day.” “Wow, that save me 2 hours a day!” I responded. Still, making room for that 30 minutes a day means that I have had to realign my priorities. I’ve always been a person who buckles down and goes to work. I’ve worked through plenty of lunch breaks and the concept of coffee breaks doesn’t really fit for a minister. I sit with refreshments with others, but it is usually in the context of work. I even refer to the process as “working the coffee hour.” During the fellowship time after church, I try to go from table to table and talk to as many people as possible. It is a way of maintaining connections. Sometimes, I even succeed in getting people to talk to each other.
We are incredibly fortunate in that we have always worked together. For 42 years we’ve had the same employer and for many of them we’ve shared the same office. Before that we were students and shared the same typewriter. Still, it takes effort and planning to carve out a half hour each day that we spend together and are not working on a specific challenge. That doesn’t mean that we don’t talk about work as we walk. We do. It is often a very good way of sorting out issues and making plans. The motion and the fresh air sometimes serve to clear our minds and make us more prepared for the work we do. I don’t have a definite measure, but it seems to me that I am being more productive at work since we started being serious about walking. Those of us who spend long hours in the office know that we have times of being in the office, but not being terribly productive. We have lulls when creativity is low and not much actually gets done. I’m learning at this late stage of my career, the power of simply getting up from my desk and making a quick walk around the building to renew energy and increase focus.
So today is a day to bundle up and get out despite the cold. If we are lucky, the wind won’t be blowing.
Today it is below zero and the forecast is for the cold to linger, only making it into the teens - perhaps as warm as yesterday, but later in the day. And it is a very busy day in which we might not have time to walk together. I’ve gone through my meetings and identified one that will give me a couple of miles, so it’ll be long underwear and layers of clothing for me today. I think we can find a help hour in the afternoon to walk together as well.
Walking is a way to feel alive. Even experiencing the cold is a reminder that we are alive and that we have certain strengths. I grew up where it gets cold - even colder than it does here, or at least that is the way I remember it. We had some rules about the cold that seem to reinforce that. I know that if the temperature is colder than -20f you need to wear a face mask. At -30f we could ask for a ride on our paper routes. At -40f there were no flights at our airport. I also know that -40 is the same on the Celsius scale as Fahrenheit. It seems to me that we got a stretch of -20f nearly every winter. -30 and colder was rare and worthy of quite a bit of conversation.
I get pleasure out of walking. Even when I have a small ache or pain, it serves as a reminder that I have muscles that work for me. I’ve never suffered the serious problems that many others have experienced. I’ve never had serious arthritis in a major joint. My hands get a little stiff, but my knees and hips work well. My ankles flex the way they are supposed to. I know that those who have serious problems with their joints cannot walk without pain. It is different for them.
Our walks this winter are taken in the context of a heightened awareness of our mortality. Susan’s brush with cardiac arrest and her time in the hospital made both of us deeply aware that our time in this life is limited. It gives us a deeper appreciation of simple, everyday things that we used to take for granted. I don’t know how long we will sustain that sense of the preciousness of our time, but it seems very present in our thinking right now. Each conversation is a blessing that we might not have gotten were it not for the swift and proper intervention of medical professionals. We are grateful for the time we have.
Because exercise is an important part of maintaining heart health, we have taken it seriously. When we had our first post-hospitalization with Susan’s electrophysiologist, we asked what we could do to participate in the healing. He responded, “Exercise.” We asked how much. He said “30 minutes, 5 times a day.” I was doing the mental math of how much that would alter our lifestyle when he corrected himself. “I meant 5 times a week, not 5 times a day.” “Wow, that save me 2 hours a day!” I responded. Still, making room for that 30 minutes a day means that I have had to realign my priorities. I’ve always been a person who buckles down and goes to work. I’ve worked through plenty of lunch breaks and the concept of coffee breaks doesn’t really fit for a minister. I sit with refreshments with others, but it is usually in the context of work. I even refer to the process as “working the coffee hour.” During the fellowship time after church, I try to go from table to table and talk to as many people as possible. It is a way of maintaining connections. Sometimes, I even succeed in getting people to talk to each other.
We are incredibly fortunate in that we have always worked together. For 42 years we’ve had the same employer and for many of them we’ve shared the same office. Before that we were students and shared the same typewriter. Still, it takes effort and planning to carve out a half hour each day that we spend together and are not working on a specific challenge. That doesn’t mean that we don’t talk about work as we walk. We do. It is often a very good way of sorting out issues and making plans. The motion and the fresh air sometimes serve to clear our minds and make us more prepared for the work we do. I don’t have a definite measure, but it seems to me that I am being more productive at work since we started being serious about walking. Those of us who spend long hours in the office know that we have times of being in the office, but not being terribly productive. We have lulls when creativity is low and not much actually gets done. I’m learning at this late stage of my career, the power of simply getting up from my desk and making a quick walk around the building to renew energy and increase focus.
So today is a day to bundle up and get out despite the cold. If we are lucky, the wind won’t be blowing.
