Reclaiming my life

My husband had been telling me “Take time to walk”. “If you don’t have health, there is nothing you can enjoy”. Walking is good, I knew, but I was busy with things—sometimes I had to finish a book or blogpost/book chapter, other times I had to finish cleaning my house. Sometimes I had to be somewhere for someone, and other times I had to be somewhere for myself. For one thing or other, I’d not been able resume my walk everyday.


Then, I lost the ‘small’ of my back while trying to pickup a piece of pepper from the flour. A sharp pain suddenly surged throughout my back and I knew I had slipped one or more of my discs, causing pressure on my spinal cord and nervous system.


With God’s grace I eventually recovered my back, but I didn’t forget the pain! The pain stayed with me whole day, reminding me how fragile our life really is, and I determined to walk every morning as long as I live once I recovered from the injury.


Yesterday I walked on the pathway that connects a small neighbourhood to the middle school, where two of our children attended, in my community. While passing through the pathway I noticed a fairly large patch of wild peas. I’d noticed this patch many times during our walks in the fall, and tried taking picture many times, but my husband discouraged me, laughing and telling me how a small thing can distract me from a Big thing at hand! This morning I was alone, and I had my cellphone with me.

             

Patches of Kootooli Kosha plant with their drying our pods

The patch of springing plants above are called “Kootooli Kosha” in Nepal. Kootooli Kosha are the tiny peas in pods. They taste similar to the "small" peas grown and sell in Nepal, but these peas are a bit stronger and they're lightly bitter. They come in deep-green and slightly yellois--mung bean colour . They are wild peas, grows along the pathway in the wilderness in Nepal. Since this variety is not available in North America most people may not know about this type of peas.


As children, my friends and I used to pull a few springs of kootooli kosha on our way to school or back to home. There was never enough kootooli kosha to fill our stomach, but it was fun to chew on while walking with friends leisurely.



Although this patch above is drying out along with the pods of the kootooli kosha, this patch brought back some of my fun memories with my friends, and reminded other patches of kootooli koshas in my parents’ fields. It was a reminder of how a small thing like nibbling on the humble grain with my family members and friends can be a life-time memory!