The
daily walking habit prepared me for two summer highlights, one planned and
one unplanned. Cadence and I took a train trip to
Chicago. We met up with my parents for a weekend away, and so that Cadence could purchase her long-saved-for American Girl
doll.
We
stayed in a hotel a few blocks off Michigan Avenue and walked
everywhere. Dad figured by the reading on Mom's pedometer that in one
afternoon and evening we logged six miles. I was tired when I
returned to the hotel, but it was a good tired. I was also impressed
that my nine-year-old managed that kind of distance without complaint.
Before
this summer, multiple days of walking multiple miles would have worn me out.
This summer the walking energized me.
Then
a month later this happened:
My
Navy Pathfinder, Bert, got sick. On the side of the interstate. Three
times. The second time, while the car was in the shop, I walked a Chicago's equivalent back and
forth to Cadence's school. Once to accompany her to school. Then because I
had no update on the car by noon, I walked back up to school to have
lunch with her (a special treat for a kid whose mom works too far from
school to do on a regular basis.) And then a third time at the end of
the school day to pick her up.
I
marveled at how I really didn't think anything of it. I had the time,
and I didn't have any other option. This summer's walking has
reinforced how self-sufficient a healthy, strong body can be. Being
towed to the mechanic shop three times was less than ideal. Spending
what I might have on my next trip abroad on repair bills pained me.
But the day spent in the sunshine, seeing my daughter in intervals I
never get to was priceless. As was knowing I can handle everything
that comes my way.
Walking
has shaped me into a better version of myself.
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| On the walk to school |
 |
| Together for lunch |
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| Glorious day. Look at the clouds! |
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