A five-newt hike

Probably any other sane person would use the excuse of a disc herniated in two places to knock off the hiking, to maybe just walk the dog on the flat safety of the sidewalk or maybe not walk daily at all.  Any other sane person would just take the drugs and stay home, feet up.  This whole period, for any other sane person, could serve as a good excuse for sloth or, as some would call it, sensible healing rest.  

But evidently this here is not the story of that other sane person, although I do love sloth now and again, especially cute ones in Costa Rica.  Rest is The New Black, but I am apparently so last week, still wearing last season's Type A.  

I don't want to stop doing everything I love just because I'm hurt.  

That, my friends, is what drugs are for.

Yes, I'm treating the injury to the extent that treatment is possible.  I'm not practicing yoga or doing anything else stupid (joke), I AM actually taking it easy, I'm going along in my little treatment train-train and doing what I'm told.  Problem is that no one is really telling me what to do or not do so much, except when to come in for another shot of cortisone in my back or when I'm asking for refills too frequently, so I'm making it up myself.  Maybe not the best arrangement, but it's the one I've got at present. And I'm still in charge.

So even though maybe I should be signed for that kick-back life of sloth, I ain't.  I'm still working, doing my thang, pushing a shovel into the ground on the weekends to turn the soil if that's what needs doing and what I feel like doing.  As long as it doesn't hurt.  I'm doing anything/everything that doesn't hurt, and keeping up with things that actually make me feel good, like rambling in the woods with Mr Burns 5 days a week.  Dude, I need to be getting some form of exercise or I'll completely lose my mind.

Being in the woods is medicine for me, I'm not kidding.  Every time is an adventure in natural history, not to mention that there's something so great about the rhythm of my own feet hitting the dirt, a way that that repetitive motion (no matter its speed) rocks me like a baby, aligns me with my inside-rhythm.

Hiking in the woods keeps me whole.  Seriously: it keeps me Me.

So, since it's Me time, of course I keep little nerdy tallies of things, especially starting around this time of year, glorious springtime, when so many creatures are on the prowl, driven by that need to hook up, raise a family, pass on them genes.  I will sail through the rest of my day if I've had my hike with Burnsy and especially if it's been a 3 Turkeys, countless quail, 3 bunnies, 4 squirrels kind of hike.  Or if it's been even just 1 Coyote.  I love being out there; there's something so deeply satisfying about seeing other animals, sharing space with them, coming upon them doing what they do.

Yesterday I was totally late for work (by which I mean later than my usual late) because it was a five-newt hike.  That starts the day out really well for me, on my hands and knees in the dirt and leaf-litter, baby-talking these little beauties, taking tons of pictures and generally just loving the world and all of the marvels in it so very much.  I mean, really, NEWTS?  What is not to love?  They're soft and small, they don't bite, they're gorgeous.  Seeing them always feels like a special treat, especially when one of those five was a baby one.  The very definition of cute.  At least for me.

So yeah, even though I do wonder if it might be better if I didn't go out and hike 2-3 miles on the weekdays, 4-5 on the weekends -- would I heal faster? Is there any possibility of healing this?  Would I have less pain if I didn't do anything? -- I can't stop going out there with Burns to see what there is to see, to take pictures of leaves and banana slugs and heart-shaped rocks that miraculously show up in the trail.  Being in the woods is a gift that keeps on giving, every day presenting new treasures to my wondering eyes.  As long as I have legs, I'll still go, counting critters, hoping for another five-newt hike to fill my heart with so much glad and glory, bursting with love for this gorgeous world we're in, in love with it all, all over again, over and over, every step.

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