The Track

I set my alarm the night before to 6:00am. The following morning, 6am strikes, and the alarm sounds. It's a Saturday morning, and I have nothing in particular planned for the day, other than going to the track to get some laps in for my cardio workout routine early in the morning. I get out of bed, wash up, put some clothes on, grab a bottled water, my headphones, and head out the door. It's a little chilly out this morning, but the air is refreshing none the less. I get into my car and then drive to our local track and field, which is only a few blocks away from my home. I arrive at the track around 6:15am. No one is in sight. Not 1 car in the parking lot. As I'm walking out of the parking lot and onto the track, I hear the birds chirping in the background. I notice the wet dew is still fresh on the green grass and some squirrels on the sidewalk gathering egg corns. At first I think to myself, "I don't know if I really feel like doing these laps today, it feels like it's going to take forever to get done." Even though I thought this, I put my headphones on, turned on my iPhone, where my music playlist is uploaded onto, and began walking. After the first 10 or 20 steps, my shins were already starting to ache from the previous workouts I've been doing days before. I then again thought to myself, "I might just do 1 lap and call it quits for the day." The sky was somewhat cloudy, with the sun peaking out every now and then. As I started to walk around the bend of the track, suddenly the sun shined bright upon me. I closed my eyes for a brief second, and felt a euphoric chill run down my body. No wind was in the air. The ache from my shins quickly left. Listening to Sam Cooke's, "A Change Is Gonna Come", while this is all happening made the situation even better. To me, I felt that someone above was shining his light down upon me, telling me, "I'm right by your side." That person I believe was my brother, who passed away 12 years ago. I think about him often, and I miss him tremendously, but I do believe we'll meet again someday. Until that day comes, I will continue to walk forward, taking things one step at a time with him right by my side, just how I do when I'm on the track.