Casting a long shadow or…

Reflections as I walk.

For various reasons: the sun was out, I haven’t been walking regularly in quite some time, my younger son has the flu, I just had a bad cold and really, really need to ramp up the health care, I decided to take a walk yesterday (and again today).

Decided to start small with just a flat walk and only a half an hour.

It was the end of the day and as I walked along one of the roads I noticed my shadow – a very, very long shadow stretching meters across the fields.

I reflected upon the phrase “to cast a long shadow”.

If “cast a shadow” has a negative connotation, “to cast a long shadow” doesn’t always:

simply the notion of someone or something having a great or long-standing influence.

Positive examples could be Florence Nightingale, Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, etc.

Then I related this notion to people: when we are small, our shadows are also small, as they are in the morning. At noon, or the height of our lives, the shadow is non-existent (does that mean that we are at our most egotistical?), but late in the day – or late in our lives – our shadows extend way across the fields. It gave me pause for thought: may my personal shadow be one that extends good, one that bears only positivity and love.

Shadows

It is a well-known fact that I love taking pictures; some of those who have to bear with me on any given outing also know that I love reflections.

But our hotel in Stuttgart last week offered something just as good: a wrought-iron table and chairs outside each door (we were in the “residence” a separate entity back of the hotel). I used mine to prop the door open for some air (I know, it’s not supposed to be 25° mid-October in Europe, but someone forgot to tell the powers that be that and as there was under-floor heating the first night I couldn’t even sleep it was so hot).

The resultant shadow was irresistible.