Day Nine

As a daily runner, I see a lot of things that most people don't see:

On weekend mornings, more often than not there is a pile of puke at one of the bus stops along the main road. One time last winter there was a macaroni barf that sat for weeks--it just kept freezing and thawing and re-freezing.

I know that every evening at 7pm for the past 5 years, Pat walks her little dog Penny and every evening at 7pm prior to those 5 years, she walked her little dog Mikey.

Ninety-nine percent of drivers don't even glance to their right before turning right onto a main road--they just look left at the oncoming traffic, narrowly missing pedestrians coming from their right. I do it too, and I feel terrible about it.

This morning I saw an older man kick some leaves over top of his dog's pile of fresh steaming poo in a lazy attempt to make it all just "go away." 

Other runners blow snot rockets onto the sidewalk. They fart. I blow my nose into my sleeve, especially if it's raining. We talk about diarrhea and sometimes we even throw up (Mark is notorious for stopping mid-stride at the top of a difficult climb and yacking into the bushes).

You know what else I notice? I notice that the more people learn about me and my life story, the more they open up to me about their own. They see my messes and what I've done to clean house, and I think (I hope!) it gives them hope. But what I do know is it gives them validity and then they feel comfortable opening up and talking about their own struggles. I think, anyway. That's what they tell me. Or maybe they just know enough about me to know that I won't judge, because I too blow my nose into my sleeve sometimes.

I think it's important for us to know that we all make mistakes but more importantly, that it's possible to move forward and grow from them. We can read self-help books or pray mightily and fast until our stomachs eat our spines, but there's just something powerful about seeing real people mess up and grow from their mistakes who then live to tell about it and sometimes, if appropriate, who can also have enough grace to laugh about it.

Seeing things that most people don't see isn't always a stomach-turning adventure--it can be a gift! Especially when I happen to know exactly where NOT to step when we're walking through that huge pile of leaves.