Soothe the Baby and Stir the Soup

We arrived at the mountain in the early afternoon, before the warm Autumnal light of New England started to gush through the trees like golden honey. Walking in the woods is our family medicine, and after days of online school with little joy or movement, it’s crucial to let our animal bodies run around in the woods.

In the parking lot, something spooked our gigantic puppy Charlie, and he turned and bolted without realizing I was right behind him. His skull made contact with my leg at such a velocity that astonishing pain spiked through my knee. He twisted his leash around us both, all while trying to escape, pulling me backwards so my hip cracked into the fender of a parked car. It all happened so fast, that I mostly laughed and tried to stay upright, but actually, ouch.

Given that we had sat in front of screens for the majority of the day, I insisted that we persevere with our hike, dammit. I tried not to favor my tender leg, so as to reassure them.

“I’ll go slow behind you guys, don’t wait for me! See you at the top!”

I meant it too — I swear there wasn’t a trace of martyrdom in my voice because I was already imagining a gloriously silent semi-solo hike, fantasizing about having a few uninterrupted thoughts allllll by myselffffffffffff.