the sound of the bottom

There are a few things that go with me everywhere. I always have Aleve, my camera and my I-pod with me wherever I go. I can’t walk without my I-pod. Yesterday, it was the kind of day where I leave work early, give the finger to the dog park and go see the real birds. I grabbed my I-pod and took Dean to Oaks Bottom (if more dog parks looked like the Bottom, maybe I would go there). For the first ¼ of the walk, I was listening to my music. However, the sounds of the birds were so loud that they piqued my curiosity enough to make me take out my earphones. The sounds of the birds and the frogs and what-have-you were so soothing and crazy, they surpassed anything I had on my playlist.

I am from a generation raised on pop culture and portable music. Pop culture movies have taught me that the coolest scenes need to have a soundtrack and portable music has made that possible. I do a lot of walking through the city where cars pollute the sound waves along with the air so my I-pod makes sense most of the time. However, it’s nice to soak up the silence or the sweet song of nature whenever it is available. I walked a different path yesterday at the Bottom after the bird sanctuary and I made a conscious decision not to put on the earphones again until I was back around traffic. It was refreshing. I'll have to tune in more often.