I sat outside on the deck with the doggos to observe the happenings in my little world and I’m noticing how differently things are done nowadays almost with a lack of care.

The sound of a trash truck is a highlight of a dogs week, so we waited, listened and watched. We could hear it on our street, but not see it yet and I was surprised to see it roll right by my trashcans along with my neighbors. It was stopping in front of the houses on the other side of the street so it could use it’s electronic arm on the that side of the truck to lift and empty the cans. I looked at Denver and asked, “He’s really going to turn that truck around?” He didn’t reply and acted as if I should know the answer.

Sure enough, we could hear the truck coming back down the street. My head tilted to one side as I thought, “Wouldn’t it be easier to gather up all of the cans in one area of the street and roll them to the arm of the truck?” There’s usually one man driving and two hanging onto the back, but maybe on that day there was only the driver and he had to depend on the arm of the truck to empty the cans.

Karen, my mail lady retired last year and trained someone to take her place, but you never know when he’s going to drive by. Karen delivered mail like clockwork and I always knew how much time I had to get a letter into the mailbox for pickup. It was almost noon when I went to retrieve the empty trashcans and saw the mail truck headed toward my street. I had a letter laying in the house to mail, but assumed by now I had missed him. Karen offered certainty, but he’s not her, so I place my letters in the mailbox whenever I please knowing he will arrive at some point to retrieve them.

These small shifts enhance uncertainty and we’re not sure how efficient the trash pickup will be, or when the mailman will drive by, but we know that life moves on, regardless of best laid plans.

There was a neighborhood cat that started roaming through my front yard every afternoon and I didn’t think much of it until I saw his reason. There’s a birdbath that’s been hanging from the arbor for years. The cat would lay in front of the arbor and jump up into the air to capture a bird in his mouth. The poor bird was simply flying from the woods to the birdbath, not realizing it was his final flight, until it was.

I removed the birdbath from the arbor and hung it in the backyard, but haven’t seen the cat since. There are things we can control that make a difference to the lives around us.

I decided to go for a walk and reached into my wardrobe to grab a pair of Bombas socks. On their running socks there’s a tiny ‘L’ sewn into the toe of one sock and an ‘R’ sewn into the toe of the other one. It’s nice to know which sock is designed for the left foot and which is for the right, because it’s uncomfortable when your socks are on the wrong feet while walking.

Maybe Bombas can’t rule the world, but at least my feet know the plan as I consider socks a moment of certainty.

Please join me here for Walking the Winter.

Feature Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash