Life in the Cheese Drawer

tonight i was taking a walk–during walks i always listen to podcasts instead of music–and on a fluke i played the most recent “this american life”, which i haven’t listened to in probably years.

one of the guests was ross gay, who compiled a small book of essay-ettes called “the book of delights.” example: carrying a tomato seedling through an airport. this book has been on my to-read list ever since john green recommended it in one of his videos, and now: 1) i definitely want to grab the book and 2) i’ve found some inspiration to do some sort of blogging.

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in the springtime, it’s always a surprise to be on a drive or a walk and see a sudden burst of tall color in the ditches where wild irises have sprouted up. sometimes they’re the traditional blue or purple, and other times they’re dark red or yellow. i’ve seen more wild irises this spring than i have in several years past.

tonight i almost missed them, off the side of the road as the cattails and other ditch detritus were already reaching to their full heights, as the sun was slanting slowly toward the horizon. i just happened to glance toward them and saw curves of purple from the corner of my eye – just some irises claiming a small spot in a ditch to push through to bloom.

irises always remind my of my uncle squire; he had a patch on the east side of his small house in austin, and for memorial day we’d cut some of the blooms on their sturdy stalks and take them to lay on the graves of people i’d never met but in stories and memories.

when it’s chilly out, a breeze on a run isn’t a good thing – march runs are killer because you go out and either out or back is going to be into a stiff, 15mph breeze in 45º weather. it’s not easy to run into because of the wind resistance, and it’s even worse when there’s still snow on the ground and it carries the cold with it.

but a breeze while it’s a little humid and above 75º is a godsend.

tonight i was out for a 6-mile run, and it wasn’t hot, but it was a little humid, and it was a longer run. i went out about 7:20 and over the next hour, the temp dropped a bit. i run down into avon, along the lake wobegon trail for a bit, then came back up through a residential area before turning onto the county road that winds for a mile before my circle drive.

the road curves to the north a bit after taking my turn onto it, and as i rounded the corner, i ran into a mild breeze that made the last mile of my run so much better.

you have to know that at this point in my runs, i am usually drenched with sweat. it’s saturating my hair, running down my chest and stomach, gathering at my waistband, flinging itself off my fingertips and elbows, glistening off my thighs, and i can feel it running down my calves sometimes. humidity doesn’t help, even when it’s in the 60s and low 70s.

so this constant, light breeze that i ran into was such a relief. it let some of the sweat evaporate, cooled off my face, my chest, my arms, and i could feel it chilling my sweat-soaked clothes and cooling off my skin underneath.

if there was any resistance, i made up for it with the energy i got from cooling off. i enjoyed it while it lasted in the evening light, up until i turned onto parkwood circle for the last quarter mile of my run. it was just what i needed.