When was the last time you did something on an impulse? Sometimes your impulses point to something that could give you new perspective and refresh you in a big way.

An Uncommon Afternoon

On Sunday, I had a bit of an uncommon afternoon. I’d been sitting under a tree reading. I was actually at the library, but outside of it. I would have been inside the library, but, being Sunday, it was completely locked up. After a while, the winds started to kick up, and I decided to avoid freezing and read in my car.

Earlier that day, I got really anxious, and I knew I had to go: out. I just had to get some fresh air and clear my mind, and only later did I realize how well this actually worked. When I returned later that afternoon, my head felt clear and refreshed, almost as if I had taken a nap, but I hadn’t.

Splash! Crack! Splat!

I drove over slushy ice clumps on the road. Though my iPod was in my pocket, I didn’t play anything. Today I preferred the music of the car’s engine in response to my foot, the sound of the ice cracking under the tires.

I stopped by a park I had been to many years ago. The park hadn’t changed much in the intervening time: a few less pieces of equipment perhaps and a few new things. Overall, I wondered if this park saw less and less use these days, and I pondered how the internet is changing things.

What’s fun about that size?

I looked down and saw a “fun-size” candy bar in the snow. The wrapper had a small tear, and a chocolate piece was still inside. I wondered if I would have considered eating it if the wrapper had been perfectly intact. Probably not. Not worth it. Even if had been in mint condition, who knows how long it had been there in the snow…

I tried to find a place to throw it away, but I couldn’t. Everyone in that neighborhood seemed to be either gone or sleeping. I got back into my car and eventually got to the library.

And as I said, it was closed.
It was Sunday.

So I read outside.
Under a tree.
Which made all the difference.

And that’s about where we started.