Cutting Corners

…So Dear Readers, I don’t know if you remember that I walk a lot.

I mean a lot.

Like everywhere.  I regularly walk to the Ogilvie Transportation Center- and that’s a good five miles from my house.

Anything less than that I consider a piece of cake.  Barely a stroll.

It’s a cheap gym and as I walk, I think.

I plan new posts, or have “discussions” with certain people in my life.  The process actually helps me straighten things out.  It sometimes forces me to face up to unpleasant truths or makes me realize that I’m in the wrong and it’s time to take ownership.

I use the time to meditate, too.

Thus I find the whole walking thing very soothing and I do it all year round- unless it’s one of those -9 Chicago winter days.

I know all my routes by heart and I’m kind of on auto-pilot as I traverse the city.

I know all the short cuts, too.  If it saves five or ten minutes to cut corners, I do it in a heartbeat.

(Provided it’s not snowing or raining and I have to think about my shoes.)

One of the corners I always cut is at Lakeview Avenue where it meets Fullerton.

I always cross over the intersection and head into the park.  It shortens the walk by five minutes for sure and I do it all the time.

Last week, Lincoln Park was still lush with early autumn foliage.  The grass was still springy and the leaves had just started to turn.  I was walking under a beautiful canopy of fall colors.

But as I walked under one of the tress, I heard a noise.

And as I turned around, I saw that a top branch from said tree had somehow sheared off- it wasn’t  even a real windy day- and this branch had crashed to the ground where I had just been walking only a nano second before.

Instantly my mind went here.

I remembered it only too clearly.  What a random and terrible act of Fate.

Talk about hearing “footsteps on your grave,” man.  I thought what if I had been one second slower or left the lunch one moment later?

I guess it just wasn’t my time to go.

I’d better use my “second chance” wisely.

Now here’s a brave woman who knows way too much about cheating Fate.