Hey friends, it's Rosie here.
Welcome back to Radio Headspace.
A few days a week, I like to go for a morning walk.
It's become a quiet ritual for me.
Sometimes I walk to our local coffee shop to grab a matcha.
Sometimes I loop the neighborhood.
Either way, it feels like a small act of devotion to myself before the world starts asking things of me.
I usually put on an audio book or a podcast.
I guess it makes me feel more productive, like I'm multitasking even while I'm technically just walking.
I say hello to the same furry friends I see most mornings.
There's a golden retriever with the gentlest eyes that waits by this blue gate.
There's a small scrappy terrier who barks like he's guarding a kingdom.
I wave to the neighbors getting into their cars with their little ones.
And then there are the flowers.
Los Angeles blooms differently than other cities.
There are bright bougainvillea spilling over fences like they've outgrown their boundaries,
thick white jasmine vines that perfume the air before you even see them,
lavender that's humming with bees, pale pink camellias tucked beneath glossy leaves,
and eucalyptus trees that release that clean, almost medicinal scent when the morning air is still damp.
I've always loved that smell of dewy ground in the early light.