I have been taking short early morning walks around our hood. I was inspired by a book called 'The Path' by Chet Raymo in which he relates his thoughts on walking the same one mile path from his home to a college campus where he taught physics and astronomy. He recognized that his path was commonplace to everyone and we all have such routes in our lives. He opened my eyes to the realization that there is wonder in even a short walk around our block. A few mornings ago I set out and immediately noted that every door had a big colorful Comcast advertisement hanging from the knob. Since it was 0930 I started wondering how many folks even used their front doors . We have been going in and out of our garage door for years. Then I started noticing that many homes seemed to use their garages as storage rather than to park the car. You see how this can work....open your eyes and start really looking.
There was an apple tree with fruit on the ground in the parkway that looked very tempting but I just couldn't bring myself to pick one up. Did this not belong to the owner? I had to refer to my mantra borrowed from Robert Fulghum that "All I Really need to Know I learned in Kindergarten"..........don't take things that aren't yours. Feeling very elated about that I wandered on to other streets and enjoyed looking at the flowers and veggies being grown in folk's front yards. I saw corn, pole beans, artichokes, tomatoes and many herbs. It is enjoyable walking at this time of year. I suspect I will be a fair weather walker but am trying to make it a routine.
If Chet Raymo could walk the same path for forty years, I will strive to do it for 365 days.
No comments:
Post a Comment