IN THIS TOGETHER

My iPhone cares about me. I had long suspected something of the sort, but the proof came yesterday when she congratulated me for increasing my exercise dramatically over the past week. It is small wonder that she was impressed. I hadn’t asked her to keep records, but she had noticed that I was now averaging 12,500 steps per day. In past weeks, the average was much, much lower. Of course, she hadn’t been giving me full credit for things I was doing. She didn’t count it when I pedalled the exercise bike, and she sat under the chair when I participated in exercise classes. But now she’s in my pocket every afternoon for the daily walk. The daily walk, consuming most of each afternoon, has been made possible by my neighbour Kathy. We had been in the habit of taking shorter walks when we had the time. We were both busy in those days. Now we are not busy. We’ve got the time. We decided to declare ourselves a couple from the perspective of social distancing. We behave as we would if we shared an apartment. We keep each other safe by maintaining social distance from everyone else when we are out, and staying home except when we are walking. In many ways, this is the best of all seasons for long walks. Here in Edmonton we live a short distance from river valley trails and quiet neighbourhoods graced by aging trees. It is part spring and part winter. The daily walk takes through snow, ice, mud, water and patches of hopeful dryness. Birds and squirrels are everywhere. The sun warms the back of our winter parkas and forces us to remove our hats and mittens. Most of the people we meet stay far away and smile conspiratorially. People, machines and nature are doing their best to keep each other going. We are all in this together.