It is an evening in mid-March in Vancouver and I am walking my dog at 7:30 pm, the last walk at the end of a busy day. At 6:00 am we walked to the park and played ball, at 7:15 am I got on my stationary bike and rode for 5 km. At 7:45 am my personal trainer began my cardiovascular and strength workout.Then I went to my Hebrew lesson for an hour and a half (I am a very serious student of the Hebrew language). I managed to catch a nap for 45 minutes after lunch and then drove up to 37th Avenue and Oak for Davka’s (yes, her name is דווקא) one-hour exercise period at the Oak Meadows off-leash dog park. During my 75 years, I have almost always had a dog: dog and playmates, dog and 4 children, dog and profession as a clinical psychotherapist and psychology teacher. How many evenings have I put her leash on, dressed myself and her (she is a white Standard Poodle with an extensive wardrobe) and resolutely put one foot in front of another, just longing to return home, shower and climb into bed? But–this evening was different. I noticed that it was still light. I didn’t need my “miner’s head lamp” to light the way. I could see the daffodils and the crocuses in the gardens and the blossoms on the trees. Then I became aware of the air I was breathing. There was a freshness that still contained the spring-like warmth of the day. I was on 16th Avenue, a busy street, yet it was a beautiful evening and I was enjoying it immensely.
When I accepted to blog on www.yossilinks.com , I wondered how I would begin. I have never blogged. For the last two years, I have been doing research and writing articles and columns for Jewish Seniors Alliance’s magazine Senior Line which is published 3 times a year. I also edit their new website www.jsalliance.org and place all the Jewish senior events onto their all-events calendar. Blogging is my new challenge.
And then I took my dog for a walk! The sense of appreciation I felt, breathing, moving, looking, reminded me how important it is to be aware of our environment, to be centred on what we are doing. I was not thinking of yesterday, or of tomorrow. I was, for a brief time, in the present and it was a revelation. Everything else faded away. The sensation was so strong that I decided to blog about it, to begin this next phase of my writing path by describing and hopefully inspiring others to catch the light, to smell the night, to be alive to the joys offered to us during the most ordinary of circumstances.
Dolores Luber March 2015
www.yossilinks.com
