The Walk

So a few days ago I walked about 3/4's of the way my daughter is walking from school. I thought it would be no problem for me to walk all of it, I thought wrong. Now maybe if I went at my own pace it would have been different, or maybe if I got out more. What happened to me?

Well I'm older than I think am, I know 33 really isn't that old, but considering I'm a diabetic and I've had a stroke... well you know. I still think I'm 18, in the army, and can do anything. So I have several things against me. But my stubbornness doesn't let me consider them really. A fault of my own personality I guess.

All of this aside it was 90+ degrees outside. But I started out anyway, with my daughter. She was talking about doing this everyday. We started in the shade with a cool breeze, it was a lot like a park. This made me have doubts about making her walk in the first place. Still we pressed on.

The first thing I noticed or wondered is where all of the people are going in cars? Walking makes you think about things differently. It forces you to slow down your thinking in relation to the place you are going, or just gives you more time to think. Some of the cars were big SUV's with only 1 or 2 people in them. I thought "what a waste" but then I thought how could it be any different? We met almost nobody while we were walking on the path, and of those people we did meet, they were all kids, no adults.

Anyway I got to the parkway, and then the shaded walk with a gentle breeze was basically all sun, all the time. My wife called right about the time we passed Publix and I was suffering with some of the remnants of my stroke. I don't like this at all, but when I come under extremes, like walking a long ways, things sort of fall apart. I noticed my bottom lip kind of tugging, a limp began to show, and I couldn't really talk anymore. Not taking any chances, my wife came and got me, and I was mad at me for not going the distance, mad at her for picking me up... and ultimately glad that she did come and get me.