Evening Stroll

Tonight was a beautiful evening. After two days of gusty winds, it finally calmed long enough for us to enjoy the afternoon sunshine. I swapped my sweats for shorts and knew I needed to take a long walk.

At dinner I announced I was going to go for a long walk. My husband asked "How long?" Why? Does he actually want to join me? How could I resist. "Alright, I won't go for a super long walk. Will you come with me?"

I got him to agree. "Let's go," he said. "No -- you need to change out of your jeans and into shorts. We are going for a real walk!" "Ugh!" he groaned. Exercise is so much harder when you haven't done it in a while...or a year...or more.

Out the door we went. We weren't even one whole house away from ours and my husband pulls out a chocolate Dove egg and says "Want a Dove?"

Needless to say, I was cracking up. "You are not much help! No, I don't want one!"

"Why not? They're goooooooood." Dove's are his favorite. But all I need at the beginning of a long walk is chocolate mouth! I couldn't believe he grabbed a small handful before leaving the house. (Who's buying these things anyway?!)

We continued on passing the park near our house and I said -- "Let's cut through the fancy neighborhood and gawk at houses." That's Dave's favorite thing to do, so I got him to agree. After all, I had already indulged him in climbing the stairs of a half-built house one block down the street from ours. He's a nosey one, my husband. We started to climb the hill through this fancy street. "Are we almost to the top?" he asks. I laughed and encouraged him "You are doing it babe!" "I think I have a heart murmur." "No, that's just you re-discovering that yes, you are alive, your heart does beat, and you can indeed walk up a hill." Down the hill we went. That is the reward for climbing a hill. I guided him to unknown walking paths. Where are we? he's asking. Just keep coming. For a long while he enjoyed the views, the fancy custom homes, the 20 turkeys we saw on the hillside, the creek. Every now and then he'd say, "Slow down...you trying to kill me?" My answer "I'm saving your life! Keep coming! Just one more hill."

"One more hill? Is it big?" So funny. I actually saw my husband grab his heart a few times for dramatic emphasis. He has, at this point, offered me the Dove egg at least 4 times during our stroll. I said: "C'mon...let's jog down the hill to the light." "No, you can, I'll watch." "C'mon, you can do it."

Much more conversation about the length of our walk that was just supposed to be an extended neighborhood stroll and how we should have brought our phone because Mallory is probably scared to death that you took me on this long walk and killed me. I mentioned how this would all be so much easier if he would get on board and we could probably both be 10 lbs lighter by summer if we'd just do this 5 nights a week. Plus it's so much fun, we love doing this stuff together. But he's feet are feeling it and so are his legs. We aren't 20 after all, anymore.

When we finally walked into the house an hour later (and probably a good 3 or 4 miles later), Dave said: "Mallory. Your mother tried to kill me. We walked at least 10 miles." Hayden screamed: "10 miles! Oh my goodness." Mallory knew better. She just looked at me and rolled her eyes. Her dad is not very subtle or good at lying! And for the 100th time in the last hour, I had a really good laugh. And for all I know, Dave ate that last Dove egg from his pocket, soft and warm, no doubt from the walk, the minute he hit that couch.