Braces clamped on newly stem-celled knees;
hiking sticks in hand; stop watch set. His

wife and Chocolate Lab took off toward the
woods. He started his slow jog behind.

“See you back in 30 minutes,” he called.
The cold wind out of the northwest hit

him in the face. He felt invigorated and
full of gratitude. His knees felt good.

In a paraphrase of the Paul Simon song,
he called down to his knees, “Still faith-

ful after all these years.” The wind whip-
ped against the tear tearing it from his

face. He breathed deeply and basked in the
heart warming grace as he increased his

pace, cold northwest wind in his face.