The movie Tracks, based on Robyn Davidson, who trekked on foot across Australia in the 1970s, is now on Netflix. I watched it over the weekend and was so inspired by this woman who made this journey with her dog Diggity and four camels. The trek was long and looked very tough, but the sweet relationship Robyn had with her animals just made my day. We have cats, and one in particular, Radagast, has bonded to me more than any other cat ever has. He loves to snuggle up and hang out with me, like a lapdog but a lapcat. He follows me around like a shadow. Otherwise, he is sort of obnoxiously energetic. He likes to pace around and look outside for wildlife in the yard, sometimes huffing like a bear through the window. He has run outside on more than one occasion. But get him settled down, and he is a purring ball of sweetness for sometimes hours at a time. And he generally likes to hang out with me, whereas his sister (we adopted the pair) prefers hanging out with my husband. Anyway, it always makes me feel good to see people being kind to animals and developing relationships with them rather than kicking them around or acting like they are about as important as a toy.
I love the title of the movie Tracks. I thought about it on today’s run. Today I began the 10K training program by Active, which basically trains you from running 5K at a time to 10K. I thought of tracks, which is truly a word that can unite time and space. We leave tracks behind, but we may be tracking something ahead. No matter where we stand in space and time, we leave some kind of track, or imprint, maybe not a physical one all the time. In one split-second, we leave an imprint and then we chase the next thing, whether it’s a destination, a feeling, a milestone.
When I thought of this, it began to rain–and I had not brought my favorite orange cap from Loonbay Resort. Yet, one minute into my run that rain came, and I didn’t feel like going back to the locker room. My time had begun! The rain was soft and drizzly, though steady. I was running along a tree-bound trail, and nobody else was around. For some reason my very old playlist came on. I think it was affiliated with the C25K program by Active, which I completed late last year. I hadn’t listened to these songs for a while, and my spirit rose. When it began raining it so happened that a quiet and sentimental tune from the movie Holiday played. It was from a part in the movie when Jack Black wrote a song for “Iris”, played by Kate Winslet. The song was so beautiful right there in that dripping forest, while I ran along the trail with no cap on–getting soaked.
I thought of tracks, the ones I made right then through the muddy trail. How insignificant my own tracks were, but the fact is, they are there. At least for a little while. I am kind of a big fan of Daniel Quinn, who examines humanity and our environment in several books. He once said:
The world must live. We are only one species among billions. The gods don’t love us any more than they love spiders or bears or whales or water lilies.
And I believe this with all my heart. Every seemingly insignificant thing on our planet is important. Doesn’t matter if it’s you or me or our pets or the nature outside.