ill-fitting cliches.

I ran this morning, first thing. I am not in the habit of doing this. But coming down 21st street with the sun rising in my face reminded me of why it's worth it. The worm flopping around on the sidewalk before I reached the pinnacle of the sun almost made me quit the run prematurely.

I was trolling along, listening to Neon Bible, when the freaky worm caught my eye. I wouldn't have looked down had it not been for the seizure he appeared to be having. My eye went from his quickly curving body to the worm graveyard I happened to be running on. HOLY CRAP!

I ran faster.

The down of the hill, encouraging a faster stride and catching the sun in just the right place for such a memorable morning experience, also caught all of the dead worm bodies washed down by angle and rain.

I made it out, un-wormed. I was talking to a friend yesterday whose mother is trudging through the excruciating pain of cancer. We joked about all of those sayings we always hate saying. They are the cliches that my freshman english comp teacher redundantly scolded us for using in our papers. "Cliches" she called them. "Just take it one day at a time." "Cancer sucks." My friend used to hate them. Now they are the story of her life.

I was thinking of choosing "ignorance is bliss" to go along with my morning worm experience. However, had I been ignorant of the worms beneath my Nike Plus running shoes, I would have had nothing to write this morning.

How about, "the early bird gets the worm"?