Sunday, April 8, 2012

Matins

Every morning when I drive to work I am moved, anew, by the site of a man doing his morning workout on the dock by the lake. He does push-ups, sit ups, jogs in place, all in the rain or shine. I mean, really, rain or... I often notice what isn't there. He isn't in spandex, just jeans and a T-shirt. He doesn't have some kind of gadget attached to him to verify that he is indeed, exercising. He doesn't have a hat. He doesn't have a special Northwest jacket. It's a nondescript one, usually lying on the dock beside him. Sometimes I can hardly make out his shape in the driving rain.  


The other part of the picture is a bird. Always. I used to think there was one gull who followed him. A kind of companionship borne of many mornings together. But sometimes it's a pigeon, sometimes a crow. One time there was a heron. Why? I love to speculate. Maybe because humans rarely stay in one place doing something without making noise. 

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