I hate wasting beautiful spring days running errands but I quite willingly went to Walmart one morning last week. The sun was shining, the leaves on the trees were putting on the green and, thanks to a sleeping pill, I had slept all night and thought I could face anything. Even Walmart! I detest shopping but I had a long list of things I needed. I got there early and was fortunate enough to find almost everything on my list in a reasonable amount of time. I then headed to the Cheat Lake Animal Hospital, which was my main reason for being out and about. I needed to pick up Pepper’s medication. I found myself in the Burger King drive-thru on my way home where I picked up lunch. After dropping a burger off for my Mom, I went home, let the dog out, and unloaded the car.

The sun was still shining as I put my purchases away but I found myself just wanting to sit down for a minute before walking the dog. I checked my email and logged onto Amazon.com, where I ordered the moisturizer that Walmart didn’t have. I then closed my eyes for just a minute, no more than two, I swear! When I opened them back up, the sky was dark, the wind was blowing, the temperature had dropped, dry leaves were twirling, and rain was on its way. It no longer looked like my kind of walking weather!

Usually, when I go to Cheat Lake, I take Pepper and we go on up to Cooper’s Rock to hike one of the trails there. My shopping trip, which was a few steps beyond normal for me, kept that from happening. Instead of walking, we spent the afternoon buried under an afghan with me reading another good book by Ruth Ware and Pepper chewing away on his new bone.