Lying Low

My energy reserves are at low tide today. I had plans to get out and walk this morning, followed by a TNG ride with friends in Northfield tonight, but I'm lying low. It's a cool, blustery, and overcast afternoon. I just don't have it in me to battle the wind tonight. My body thanks me because I've not taken a day off from working out since the end of January. My meditation streak remains alive at 57 consecutive days. 

I'm enjoying my walks so much lately, especially now that most of the walking paths are clear of snow and ice. While on my walks, I've been listening to books on my Audible app. Most of what I've been listening to has been books related to Christianity as I try to make sense of my faltering beliefs: When Everything's on Fire, Do I Stay Christian, and The Case for Christ. They're thought-provoking books, but still, I find myself where I was before reading them; leaning ever more in the direction of agnosticism with a budding fascination with reincarnation. I know stress testing one's faith isn't for everyone (it should be), but I need to do this. The older I become, the more I'm coming to understand that my time here is limited—a thought that keeps coming ever more into focus. Perhaps I think too much. Perhaps not.

I've got a bad case of spring fever, as do most others who are still dealing with more than a little remaining snow cover. I keep seeing photos in my phone's memories from this or that day years ago. They nearly all have little to no snow, and in some, there is green grass. I love our change of seasons, including winter, but I'm very much in need of some warmer weather at this point.

Charlie is happy to be out walking again. He usually requires a minute in our laundry tub after our walks to wash the grit and mud off his feet and belly, but he doesn't mind. He'll be 15 in September. 

Gun violence is in the news again (not that it ever leaves), here in the land of the free, as children again pay the price for people's unfettered access to not only guns but also weapons of war. If there's a cancer in our country, it's gun violence and the easy access we afford them. 

More children in the U.S. die today from gun violence than from any other cause of death, and we also have more mass shootings than we have days in a year, but our conservative lawmakers refuse to work toward minimizing this scourge. In fact, one of the first acts of the Trump administration was to roll back an Obama-era regulation making it more difficult for a mentally ill person to own a gun. 

It concerns me to think about the active-shooter drills our young children are having to practice routinely in our schools and how they process them. It's just the price to pay I suppose in support of our gun culture. But heaven forbid that they're taught about love between people of the same sex or about our racist history. No, we can't have that.

I've been having dreams at night of riding my road bike. They're such nice dreams. Indoor training is fine to a point, but I need the real thing. I went out for a little more than 60 miles (97 km) last Friday on a loop from Northfield to Wanamingo, where I met up with some friends at Area 57 Cafe to refuel before getting back on the road. It was such a beautiful day to be out riding. See the video below.

More Parables for Our Time

Extra credit reading.

That's all I've got.

The song below was written in response to the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT in 2012 where 20 children between the ages of 6-7 were gunned down including 6 adult staff members, and yet our conservative lawmakers sit on their hands and claim they're doing enough already. We have to do better. Use your voice. Join the fight because that's what this has become.