“Let’s go for a walk,” I say as I grab my dirty sneakers.
She doesn’t respond, but she smiles, and that is plenty for me.
There’s a certain peace that flows through walking together. It’s just us and the earth and the sounds of the world humming. Fresh air lifts any worries from our shoulders and the bustle is left behind. The day’s responsibilities won’t go away, but they can wait. We’ll come back, and life will suck us in again, but for right now, we escape. This is our perfect slice of the day where there’s nothing but us and the trees and the sky.
The dirt and gravel crunch beneath our feet as we walk down the long driveway. A breeze brushes by, and I feel at peace in this quiet.
That’s what’s so great about us. We can walk side by side and words aren’t needed. I can just sigh in the summer air, and she knows how I’m feeling.
And if words do come, they’re easy. She listens quietly, occasionally glancing at me as we walk, that content, understanding smile still stretched across her face. She’ll never judge what I have to say or the way I’m feeling. She’s just there, always by my side, the perfect listening ear as I mumble the thoughts that glide across my mind.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you,” I say when the sun slows our pace and the gravel turns to grass. “Thanks for listening.”
And she doesn’t even have to say “you’re welcome,” because I know I always am. This simplicity is bliss. Just being brings comfort to us both, and this fragment of daylight belongs only to us. This break keeps us both sane.
Work/life balance can certainly be a challenge to any adult, and this proves true even when working at home. It’s like the laptop is a galactic portal with irresistible gravity, and there’s always a task to complete, always an email to send, forever a project to start.
And that’s fine. That’s professional life. That’s adulting. But take a break. Because right now, this time is ours.
Me and my dog stepping through wildflowers and truly enjoying the other’s undistracted company.
Us. In this tiny piece of day we call our own.
#adulting 