Stealing...

I stole a moment from life this morning. Those moments that life gives us every once in awhile. Those ones that are effortless in the taking, that feel so good and wholesome, so deeply satisfying that it almost makes you feel like you're cheating, like you stole it. I find them sometimes on my runs, when gathered with family, in Tessa's smiles and giggles, when my husband makes me laugh.

I went to bed last night with the intent to wake up and get 6 miles in before the Tessinator woke from her slumber. She had a different plan...they often do. She rose at 5:30, hungry and wanting to play and I woke with a headache and sore throat, so Wade went running. I fed her and decided while doing so that I should probably just go back to bed since I was feeling sick and all...but then Wade came back and told me to do just that...and well I didn't like that. I was up, and he was going to be there for another hour before leaving for work so I might as well go do something. I walked out the door telling him I wouldn't be long, probably just walk up the "hill" and be back. It was chilly when I stepped outside, the air was crisp, the sun just starting to paint the sky pink. I turned the corner to begin my hilly walk when I saw them...walkers. I have this little fire in my belly that kicks in when I see walkers that makes me want to run. You are not a walker Katelyn, run. So up Pacific Island I go. My nose was cold and started to run. The air was cool on my face and hands, but my hazy head began to clear and I let the cool air in through my throat and down into my lungs. Ahhh. I'm stealing a moment. Up I went, motivated by the ease in my steps, until I reached the trail at the top leading me to look over Laguna and Dana Point. The sky was changing from pink to orange lighting the sky slowly. I stopped for a drink at the fountain near the bottom of the trail. It tasted like the earth. Most drinking fountains at the bottom of trails taste like the earth I think, but Mother Earth tasted good this morning. I stopped and walked the hundred yards or so to the lookout, wanting the stolen moment to last as long as possible. The sea was pretty still and quiet this morning holding on to the clouds banking in on her coast and climbing up to apron the valleys. The sun rose a little higher in the east, gently coaxing the stuccoed hillsides out of thier slumber. It was lovely. I turned with a deep breath and started my run back home. That was after all the orginial plan, to run. And I saw some more walkers.