Follow Your Heart

I went running today around Town Lake (one of these days I’m going to look back and see how many of my entries I’ve started that way . . . a lot, I know, but I always end up seeing something I want to come home and share with you, my internet).  You’ve read all the Rachel and Megan stories (you’ve been keeping up, right?  Right?) so you know that I’m always keeping an eye out when I run on the drop-down part of that 1st Street Bridge.  Today I saw this:

“Follow Your Heart.”  I like that, you might not be surprised to know.  It doesn’t have the same very simple visual style as “Rachel is a Princess” and “Megan is Lovely” of course, but the purity of the message is there.  I’m curious if the City of Austin will paint over this one.  I think we should have a rule where you can write what you like on the wall of that drop-down pedestrian bridge as long as it is something . . . well . . . sweet.  I’m happy to step up and be the judge of what is and isn’t “sweet”  if the City would give me that honor.  In fact now that I think about it, I see Mayor Wynn running on that trail pretty often, next time I might get him to follow me up to that bridge and check it all out, see what I’m talking about.  Although he’s only mayor for about another week, but what a note for him to go out on, am I right?

Another reason I love that “Follow Your Heart” so much (besides the obvious reason, which is that I agree; I think that most of the time, you should follow your heart) is that just down the trail from where that was painted on the wall, is this part of the trail:

This is a little wall and when it was built, someone (a romantic, I’m thinking) found a bunch of rocks that are shaped like hearts and made them a part of the wall.  I’ve looked for a sign around it to indicate who did it, who it is dedicated to or something like that, but there’s none to be found.  Here’s a closer picture of some of the rocks in the wall:

The wall is located where the path curves around to the water, right before a charming little bridge.  It is actually my favorite part of the trail, this little curve of hearts.  So today when I was running and saw that someone had painted “Follow Your Heart” and then I ran just another minute or so and came across, of course, all these hearts that make me smile every time I see them . . . well, you know the drill with me, sap that I am, I loved it all.  Plus the imperfection of all the hearts in that wall, I’d post a picture of every single one of them if I could.  Some are smooth, some are bumpy, some are well-worn, some are broken, some are . . . oh, you know me and my predictable metaphors, you can take it from here . . . 

BUT THEN way later down the path as I was just ending my run, near where they rent out the canoes and stuff, I happened to see this little gem buried in the dirt:

I was going to crop the photo so you could see it better but I decided to leave the toes of my shoes in there for perspective on the size.  Can you see that precious little pink heart, all unassuming and perfect?  Almost buried so much that it can’t be spotted.  But it’s THERE, isn’t it?  I know some people like that.  I’ll bet you do, too.  And yes, for a teeny tiny millisecond, I wanted to bend down and dig it out but I didn’t.  It’s buried for a reason.  Most hearts are, right?

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