Discovering the Road to….

by Elouise

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Rita!

Last June I was newly freed of jaw wires, scraping the bottom of my barrel called Energy, frantic to stop my weight loss.

I’m not normally a quick convert to programs described in NYTimes Bestseller Books. But this time I was out of solutions. So I cast myself upon simple yet stringent requirements for Turning My Life Around, as prescribed in one of those NYT BBs.

Every morning, without fail, follow this simple discipline.

  1. Get up at the same time each day, no matter what.
  2. Within half an hour have a protein-laden breakfast smoothie.
  3. Within 45 minutes of eating be outside walking slowly for 20 minutes.

Simple? Hardly! But when you’re down, you’re down.

So forget the niceties of washing face and hair. Pull clothes on and head straight for the kitchen. Vitamix the prescribed Breakfast Wonder. Brush teeth, disguise unkempt hair with pink visor cap, grab sunglasses and a small bottle of water, and get moving.

One foot in front of the other. No extra exertion. Just one foot and then the other.

Almost the first day out, I see her coming. Short, petite, dressed stylishly, walking her beyond cute small white curly-haired dog! On a leash. Fast. Coming down a gentle hill in the neighborhood park. Wearing a hat and huge sunglasses. Walking and half-running as her extroverted little dog pulls her along.

I never saw her before. Yet in the following weeks she and I become a regular thing. Not just on morning walks, but in the afternoons. Friendly nods and smiles become short in-passing comments on the weather, the gorgeous trees or the rain and heat that’s coming.

Then one day we happen to be walking in the same direction. She comes up from behind—catches me off guard. That’s when it begins. A wondrous friendship I never thought I would have with a woman who might never have crossed my path otherwise.

I still didn’t know her name. Then one day we traded names and stopped to talk about life. How things were going for each of us. I began thinking about her, hoping to see her again.

I’d already decided Rita must be about 60 or early 70s. Small, youthful and short. Then one day I asked her outright. She said she was 82. I could hardly believe it.

A few weeks later, Rita asked me to tea. Thus began a conversation and friendship that hasn’t ended. Our worlds are wildly different, but there’s something that attracts us to each other. I think it’s Kindness. That, and being Women of a Certain Age.

I’ve enjoyed tea with Rita in her home more than once. She likes having someone new in her life. As she puts it, every time she turns around another friend or neighbor has died. So she finds it important to keep making new friends who are kind.

I’m so grateful this Christmas for the gift of Rita, and for you, my kind friends, who have made this a Remarkable Year!

Praying for each of you a blessed Christmas and Holiday Season, with time to think about people God brought into your lives this year.

Elouise ♥

© Elouise Renich Fraser, 23 December 2016
Photo Credit: DAFraser, 20 December 2014, Longwood Gardens Conservatory

Response to WordPress Daily Prompt: Discover