Walking Mary

I took a walk from 6am to 7am this morning. The sky was just getting a hint of light when I left the house, and when I returned the sun was about to come up. It was a bit chilly outside and my cheeks were very cold.

As I was heading back to the house I walked by a field that had just a shadow of fog. There was a herd of deer, numbering about 10-12 in the field eating grass. They were backlit by the eastern sky. Can you picture it? It was just lovely.

But it got me thinking. I remembered back to my teen years, and an unknown lady who we saw nearly every day walking down a busy main thoroughfare in my city. We just called her "Walking Mary" since we didn't know her. She must have walked all day long, or at least a good many hours each day.

As I walked this morning on the new 4-lane road that cuts through farmland, but will someday be crowded by gas stations, car dealerships and tanning salons I wondered if I would still be walking this same 4-lane road twenty years from now, and in my mind still seeing the farmland, the watchful deer, and remembering the sweet sounds of spring birds.

I wonder if Walking Mary saw Noland Road the way it used to be.