I take Chip for walks for a few reasons. One, of course, is the exercise that we both so desperately need — he’s getting older and I need to start building good habits.

Another reason being that it’s just really, really nice to get outside after spending the day in school.

The real reason I walk Chip, though, is for the time I get to think out of it. When I’m walking around my neighborhood with his leash tugging at my arms, I’m entirely alone with my thoughts. It’s a kind of meditation. If it’s too hot to run, but I need to work something out, or think something over, I put the leash on Chip and head out the door.

We move pretty fast, so our walks don’t last very long, but it’s all the time I need. And I know it’s more than enough to make Chip happy.

When I was walking Chip earlier in the evening, I realized something.

As the warm air moved against my face in the breeze, I realized that it is a good thing to be alive. I realized that it is a good thing to be alive, and for one to be able to walk so freely, and for the songs of spring to be so beautifully heard in one’s ear as the sun falls gradually into the horizon.

In nature, spring is a time of rebirth. For me personally, it’s a time of renewed energy and optimism.