Podcasts

            Yesterday I took an 11 mile walk. I walked to the cemetery via the Minuteman Bike Path and Hartwell Ave. I listened to podcasts: several Freakonomics, then a RadioLab.

            I was way behind in my podcast listening. About two weeks after David died I started listening to Planet Money podcasts again. There was an eight-week backlog on my phone. Listening to them without him was an emotional milestone. Twice a week David and I listened on the way to and from his MGH appointments. Sometime in mid-July he stopped having the energy to focus on them: about the same time that he stopped eating more than 400 calories a day. I hadn’t listened to any on my own while he was alive; there was always the hope that he’d feel up to it next time.

            My walk was wonderful. It was a perfect New England day: sun and brilliant white clouds in the azure blue, with hints of yellow and orange amidst the green. I walked two miles to the Westview Cemetery to visit David’s grave (Maple Ridge section, row B, grave 29-1). The soil is neatly replaced, with grass seed scattered on top, the bouquet of purple flowers that friends brought on Saturday resting at his feet.

            After I had stopped for a while and taken some pictures I continued down Westview St. and reconnected with the bike path. I took it to the Bedford Depot terminus, then walked along Elm Brook in Bedford. I finally turned around, knowing that I had to return home on my own power.