This morning I woke up thinking, “I miss walking the hood in the mornings”. Then, through my kitchen window, I saw a woman who I haven’t seen walking before, but I recognized the dog that was with her and knew exactly where she lived.

Winnie and Denver were barking at the dog through another window. Winnie sounds ferocious while protecting her home and Denver was asking it to come play.

I looked at Winnie and said, “That dog lives on 3rd street, so your domain is safe”. I’ve seen it laying in the yard on some of my walks and with it being white, it’s usually laying in a pit of dirt. The woman can be seen sitting beside a window in front of a computer, so she must work from home. Without even knowing each other we already have two things in common, but I was surprised to see her walk by so early this morning.

I fed the dogs and while they ate, I went to get dressed because I wanted to go for a walk, too. My best guess was, if a woman I’ve never seen outside before can do it with a full grown Siberian Husky, then surely, so can I. I let Denver outside and covered Winnies favorite chair for her to lay in while I walked. Stepping outside I remembered it’s trash day, so grabbing the can from the end of the driveway, I pulled it to the street.

My neighbor across the street just asked his girlfriend to move in with him and she was sitting on the porch with my their cat, Uno. We exchanged, ‘hellos’ and then Uno saw me and came running toward me for some love. I scooped him up in my arms and snuggled him just for a few seconds before he wanted down. Uno is half feral, but the girlfriend laughed and said, “I’ve never seen him to that with anyone but you.”

I love that cat, but placed him on the ground to continue walking. Another neighbor was walking toward me and he opened his arms for a morning hug. He saw my t-shirt and asked, “You’ve seen Ed Sheeran in concert?”, and I said, “Yes…twice.”

On third street, I saw my friend, Lady A wrestling with a bag of mulch on the bed of her truck and stopped to offer assistance. Lady A is an independent single woman as well, so of course she didn’t need help, but stopping gave us a chance to chat. She asked how I was doing and we can be transparent with one another, so I spoke the truth and shared. “I’m having a hard time writing this week and it’s not from a lack of topics. If anything, I have too many to write about.” She paused and we stood in silence.

Her daughter’s boyfriend is a writer, so she shared some things he does to clear his head. That’s what I needed to hear because it really is about clearing the mind to focus, but not be so overly focused that it feels forced. I took her advice to heart and here we are. I didn’t concern myself with drafts, or look at the list of topics laying on my desk, I just sat down and opened a clean page to let the writer write.

I texted Lady A to thank her for the encouragement because the mosquitos were out in full force, so we didn’t get to chat long. I returned home with itchy elbows, but it was worth it seeing my friend. What I thought was going to be a simple walk turned out to be a procession of souls God had already lined up to give me everything I need.