Yesterday Declan had to spend most of the day at the hospital getting a procedure. Thanks to COVID Sammy and I had to stay at home while Marisa kept vigil at the hospital (that makes it seem way more serious of a procedure than it was. He’s fine, though it is always stressful when your young child has to have surgery! As I type this Declan is sitting in a truly gigantic pile of Duplos. Oh, wait, he’s no longer sitting in the pile. He now appears to be swimming… either way, the point is that he is fine!).
I was on Sammy duty, and so we went for a walk around Philadelphia. We ended up on the River Trail, which is somewhere I have been on hundreds, if not thousands, of times. Usually when I’m on the path I’m running. And when I’m running I’m only paying attention to two things:
- People who are aimlessly walking along the trail, so I can avoid running into them.
- How much I dislike running
That doesn’t leave much mental space for enjoying the scenery. As an attempt to take my mind off what was happening at the hospital I tried to take in the beauty of the Trail. It really is quite a pretty urban spot with both the scenery and the people adding to the appeal.
As I walked along I noticed the tree pictured above. I’d have no difficulty believing this was the first time I had even seen this newly planted tree or that I’ve seen it countless times and it just never registered. But yesterday on this walk it made an impression.