Safe (and slow) In Oregon

I made it safely to Oregon.  I made it on time to my first doctor's appointment.  It all went well. Treatment is at least a few weeks away though, taking longer than I thought,  but I have a doctor I like and I have a plan. 

Because I thought I'd start treatment sooner, today was an opportunity for me to...
g...o 
sloooow. 

I did laundry.  Read. Played scrabble. Researched. Read. Napped. Laid in bed. and ultimately!... Walked to the park.
( slooooowly) . 

10 years ago I spun circles around this neighborhood running for an hour of reprieve from caring for my mom, as we delt with the lung cancer that had matastisized to her brain.

.. To be here again, with my own cancer is.. potent.  Whew!
 Familiar. 
Different. 
..There were tears and all the feels.. 

Today i walked slowly to the park.  I rejoiced in the cedars and all the other trees i had met from before. Ten years had buckled the paved park path with not-so-hidden anymore roots. (I watched my step.) The maples were turning colors and rolling out magenta carpets on the dirt. I walked across the deep green grass to the first open bench and sat down for a long while. 

People looped the pond and looped me again.  I did some tai chi in front of my bench, a few sets, then sat down, again. 

Finally i walked to the next bench , 40 feet away, and..  sat. I marveled at the trees, the ducks, the people with dogs and kids circling the park every few minutes. They passed me again and again as if I was in slow motion.  Ha. Cuz I was!

I didn't loop the pond. I went back the way I came. Sat again on another bench. I took pictures of ducks. Of trees. Of me being a slow old lady on the bench. Thats my role( at least for now). Start slow. Watch your step. Sit. Breathe. Go slow.

I made it back home. Safe. No tripping. No spinning out. No fatigue in my legs. No shortness of breath.  Maybe tomorrow I'll try it again. Maybe by next week I'll loop the pond. 
 ..Or not. 
I will do tai chi again tho. 
..  .it's awesome,  and its slow!  

Sometimes I feel like im a slow slow learner.  Haha. But im trying.