
I wasn’t at the beach today. I don’t know if this godwit was or not. I don’t know enough about marine wildlife to know which birds migrate, which ones nest in places more or less permanently, how flocks and pairs behave.
I hardly know how I behave. It was drizzling this morning, chilly (by southern California standards, anyway) and damp. I had to eat, dress, and leave for a doctor’s appointment. Returned just in time for lunch and to prepare for a business meeting. When that was over, several other items intervened on the schedule and suddenly the opportunity to walk was gone. It feels like a gap, a mistake, an error, a poor choice, a mis-step, a lack of steps!
Tomorrow is equally busy. I don’t want to miss it again. Behaving isn’t just “Behave yourself!” admonished to a 2- or 3- or 4-year old; it’s living in (oh Lord, I sound like a self-help book) an authentic way, doing what is essential, making time for commitments, to self-promises, to fundamentals. It was hard enough losing those walks to The Virus; now I’ve lost today’s to impatient laziness and lack of planning. I hardly know how I behave…