North for the Summer

I know it is a bit strange, but I have noticed recently that I get very excited when I hear Canadian geese honking overhead. For example, last week I was finishing a four-mile run on the final stretch toward home, and a flock flew overhead, honking and carrying on like they do, and I found myself running a lot faster, like some atavistic button was pushed and I reverted to trying to keep up with the flock and make it to Canada. Even though the common ancestor of humans and geese probably dates back to long before the dinosaurs, I felt a little bit of peer pressure to step up my pace. I'll admit it sounds crazy. It's like when I went to San Francisco and saw the sea lions at the pier constantly vying for supremacy on the floating platforms and barking like crazy; it made me want to jump in the water and play king of the platform, even though I would be no match for a 400 pound ball of muscle and fat with millions of years experience. Maybe I never lost that quality that kids have that when they hear a lot of noise, they just go crazy. Or maybe I'm just crazy. Either way, I generally have it under control; otherwise, I would be somewhere taking a break in a farmer's pond and getting ready for the next leg of my journey over Lake Ontario instead of writing this blog entry.