Throwin' Rocks

"We was throwin' rocks in the river, counting ties on the track; thinking life could not be better and living in a shack; Feeling love for one another, deep down in our bones; standing by the water, throwing rocks and skipping stones."

...and on a January morning, it was dark and finally cold enough for my ninja mask to be pulled on tightly and tucked way down into my littlest hoodie, leaving only my eyes to brave the wind and the run set out before me.  So cold, in fact, that a river froze as I ran next to it, trapping geese in little clusters of feathers, and embracing its new found stillness like a door closing on catastrophe.  This run would be a little over 4 miles out, straight into the biting wind, and 4 miles back, flying on invisible, albeit gusty, wings. And I felt brave. It was a run planned out and driven by the exhilaration of perceived defiance of nature and completely empowering.  My focus was broken, only momentarily, when I noticed the river next to me had completely stopped moving.

There I stood under a street light at 6:25AM with the world waking up behind me as commuters made their way down Kelly Drive buzzing with expectations of the first cold day.  In front of me was frozen silence.  Nothing moved but the flurries through the street light and it dawned on me that it had been a very long time since I'd thrown a rock at anything.  With visions of failed attempts at rock skipping on the waves of the Jersey Shore flashing in my mind, my heart rate increased as I rapidly scanned the ground for something to smash some ice with. And so began my hunched over and dimly lit search for the perfect rock.

As the rock hit the top of its arch, I lost sight of it completely and then only caught back up with its dull thud of a landing.  No dice on the smashing front but an uncontainable grin lit me up and carried me back another 4 miles to my beginning.  It seems that just stopping to take a breath and do something truly ridiculous is all that's needed to reset.  The brilliant orange and purple sunrise that led me into the finish line of this 8 mile wake-up, was but the icing on this once in a lifetime moment...

"Standing by the water, throwing rocks and skipping stones..."