Maintenance
I don’t know if my beliefs about material possessions are innate or learned, but I do know that I believe one of the best ways to honor the incredible material wealth we have is to meticulously clean and maintain our objects. I suppose I may be trying to back out some profound explanation or justification for the amount of time I spend maintaining the things around me, but either way, I abhor the thought of disorganization or disarray or disrepair.
So, that’s one of the reasons I enjoy exercising: I’m maintaining myself. After all, I have four limbs and a torso that, if given a chance, can do things. Can play a song, write this post, repair a tooth. And there’s that abhorrence of disrepair.
There’s another reason for exercise: to be able to keep up with my daughter. Someday soon, I’ll be chasing her around. Teaching her to ride a bicycle. I don’t want to be the guy in the commercial for Advil going “just a second, honey, I have to take some painkillers before we go on a hike.”
I thought about that today as Ess and I took a walk with my mom. When Essie was getting fussy in her stroller, my mom just took off in an effortless sprint to distract Ess and get her thinking happy thoughts again. I chased after my mom, who just had her sixtieth birthday, and we breezed along the twilight streets, back to Essie’s home. That, I thought, is a pretty good reason to maintain oneself.
Comments
John +1
If you ever wanted to go running with Ess, with me, and Lucy - just let me know! Depends on the day of the week, but I’ve been trying to get out early morning on my day’s off to also work on “maintenance.”