Einstein suffered from terrible stomach aches. Ultimately, they are what killed him but he managed the pain all the way back to his 20s. I can relate. I have a stomach ache most days, sometimes they can be crippling. He was not very interested in food because of it, and I am the same way. I love cooking but am largely indifferent to food because of my stomach. Running helps. Yoga helps, though sometimes makes it worse. Writing can either help or make it much worse. It depends. For Einstein, his stomach aches drove him to live an even more austere and simple life. He liked to sit in his study and do equations. He had a small sailboat and he would sail. He took long walks and hikes. Elsa, his wife, understood this about his stomach and helped him manage through good food and her loving touch. I've learned to push through the stomach aches. I've had them since I was a little girl. I've learned to accept that they are just a part of me like any other feature. Einstein also didn't like to drive. I can relate to that as well. You miss so much in the car. I prefer walking. Einstein was famous for wandering around Princeton and getting lost because he was so deeply caught up in his thoughts. I aspire to that. To not have to drive much at all and to walk most places so that I can think and observe, or even get to that space I get to with running where I hardly think at all, I am just breathing, indifferent to where I am geographically, and pacing my stride.
I have decided to run a marathon next summer. I think it is the only one I will do. My mileage is so high now that I just feel as though it is the time in my life to do it. I want a beautiful one in the mountains. My friend Charlotte in Maine convinced me. (I have so much to say about my conversations with her but that will have to be for another day.) Only, I need to protect my knees and hip. That is my only concern. I know my mind and heart could run forever.
Einstein was calculating up to the last moments of his life, literally dying and writing equations. His fearless quest for the answers to. His heart and mind were fully alive, only his body had given out. Oh, to be that way. Living fully with presence of mind and a curious and open heart, still searching for the golden sand beneath the waves lapping at the shores.
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