![Lincoln Park](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2310/1794861168_03b6cd133b_m.jpg)
Needing some outside air after the
K12 Online Conference over the last couple of weeks, I headed out the front door Sunday morning to go for a walk in the park. Yikes, our car was gone. What was I thinking? My wife had it in Portland where she was doing a performance. No problem, thought I, I'll just walk the neighborhood. Then I thought - why not just walk to
Lincoln Park?
![Ducks are back](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2077/1794019631_184e3b0c6a_m.jpg)
I walked there in 20 minutes , and it was beautiful. Red breasted mergansers and harlequin ducks have returned to Puget Sound, gorgeous muted fall colors were on the trees. I walked around the point on the water, past Coleman Pool, an incredible outdoor saltwater pool, closed now for the season. I looked west at the
Olympic Mountains, seeming to rise 8,000 feet right out of the water, some snow still visible on the peaks, even at the end of summer...
![Fall in the Park](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2011/1794018709_fe58670d00_m.jpg)
We found
Lincoln here. Or rather, he found us. I've written the story of that event many times with my kids at school. Perhaps I'll post it here sometime. It's a good story.
Lucky, lucky, lucky.
My school is a mile and a half from our house. I ride
my bike there every day. I found that bike with a "Free" sign on it a couple of blocks from our house - I had to put some air in the tires.
![Our School](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/24/65147805_1bc21acb37_m.jpg)
This is my 17th year at my school. I actually mentioned this at our open house a couple of weeks ago. I recorded my little speech and put it up as a
podcast on my classroom blog. I could not possibly have landed at a better school.
Lucky, lucky, lucky.
I kept thinking about these things as I walked today. In this day of always trying to multitask so you can *maybe* get everything done, it was nice to just walk. No earbuds in my ears, only the sounds of community and wildlife that I chose to pay attention to. I just got to think.
![Thistle Street Stairs](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2033/1794017939_bd83a50f73_m.jpg)
Maybe it's because so many things have been going so badly lately, I don't know. But all I could think of today was how lucky I am... to live where I live, to work where I work. As I peeled off layers on the walk back UP to our home (huff, puff...), I thought of where I live, on this itsy bitsy speck of the earth. And I thought about how much I have. Only a very small fraction of the over 6 billion people on this earth have what I do.
Well sure, I have worked hard. But so have billions. And somehow I have ended up here, at this point in time and space. I shake my head and smile. I feel this huge wave of gratitude wash over me.
I said this at the open house, and I say it to myself almost every day:
Sometimes you just get lucky.
(I am going to remember this post at Thanksgiving!)
1 comment:
I really enjoyed your post. I went to Washington State years ago on a business trip. Mt. Rainier was so breathtaking, I could have crashed leaving the airport in my rental car. It's good to let those good feelings wash over you. Have a good week.
Ann
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