THE COMFORT OF COLD

I couldn't sleep Saturday morning.  I wanted to.  It was the weekend, but for whatever reason my body and spirit wanted up.  I woke up at 5 a.m. willing it to get light fast.  Having a bad dream that I couldn't clearly remember, I woke with what must have been portions of it in my head.  I needed it to get light soon!  When I could lay there no longer in mental torture thinking about something I had no desire to park my bus on, I got up.  The clock read 6:20 a.m.  After checking the temperature outside (40 degrees!) and realizing there was still fall gale force winds outside, I put on my running clothes, donning myself with a hat and a pair of gloves.  While stretching in the living room I thought about leaving my warm house when it was still dark to go into the windy, dark cold.  Was I crazy!  There are days, despite the weather conditions, that the pull to the outdoors is so great I think I will go insane if I don't go out in it - run in it, feel it on my face, breath it in my lungs, let it penetrate my spirit and make me right again.  There is a wonder in darkness, in the quietness that an early morning weekend run can gift me.  As I ran, I tugged on my hat bringing it down over my ears a bit further.  This 40 degrees with the wind was probably more like 30!  It was the first cold run since early spring for me.  I forgot how almost invigorating it was.  As I ran by people's houses I saw some lights on.  I wondered if they were like me, just unable to sleep in even on a Saturday.  Did they have kids in school and were readying for all day volleyball tournament?   Turning back on the last 2 miles of the 4 mile run, light started softly in the east.  The world was being woken up.  I saw no one out:)  I laughed at who other than me would get up at 6:20 a.m. on a Saturday to go outside in frigid cold to run.  Probably not many.  If they did, I hadn't seen them.  I felt almost guilty that I had the earth as my playground alone for those miles.  God had given me a gift that was just perfect for who I was.  I felt cold, tired, but remarkably energized by the alone time in nature.  No cars.  No people.  Quietly and silently I ran only hearing my breath and my own thoughts.  That moment was akin to eating a piece of pecan pie with a cup of good coffee - completely satisfying.  A comforting thing to me.  I thanked God for that gift I had gotten to have that morning.  As I crawled back in bed with my husband to get warm when I returned, I smiled as he grimaced from the frost still on my skin:)  No matter, he let me snuggle in taking some of my cold and replacing it with his warmth.  A run and a snuggle.  What a great Saturday morning!!