Alive in the moment

My exercise buddy (not to be confused with my layoff buddy) and I braved the sub-zero temps Thursday morning to snowshoe in Hartley Field. The air was crisp, the sky was clear, and the sunshine was brilliant. Few others were making use of these city-owned woods. And I knew after five steps that my first time on snowshoes was going to be a glorious adventure.

We set off across Hartley Pond, whereupon we ran into an aquaintance of my exercise buddy's. All three of us are in various stages of beginning new careers -- due to either layoffs or forced early retirement. One upside, we all agreed, was that we were fully enjoying this moment outdoors.

My friend and I headed up toward Rock Knob Lookout then down into deeper woods. Our conversation covered a variety of topics: Jack London's "Call of the Wild," pondering when bears awaken from their hibernation, how we enjoyed watching trees we planted grow over our lifetime. I remembered how well I knew the woods of my childhood and marveled that my husband, who had played and camped out in Hartley Field as a child, likely knew these woods just as well.

After a couple of hours, my friend and I made our way back to the pond, hugging the cattail-laced shoreline until we reached our initial crossing point. We watched a red squirrel and a variety of birds in Hartley's "deer-free" enclosure. Alas, it was time to return our snowshoes and attend to our day's errands. But that sunshine has stayed with me.