The Old Man

I posted this yesterday on Facebook.  I dictated it as I walked and took pictures with my smartphone.  It seemed a waste to just leave it on that transient forum.

“My street is quiet and still this morning. We are enveloped in relatively cool air. The light is falling through the trees at a different angle than it took a month ago. Make no doubt about it this is still summer but the onset of fall it's not far off.

My walks over the past couple of months have been joyful. They have been showing me my neighbors little joys. There is something quite affirming in the fact that everyone wants a special little thing to make their space their own.

Some people dream of the pure land. Some people dream of heaven with all its attributes described in their beloved Bible. What I dream of is a little more time to walk the streets and alleyways of this full and beautiful world.”

In response to my post my cousin noted the following:

“This took me back to Ocean City when Mel and I would be sitting in the kitchen nook and your Dad would go walking slowly down the alley way behind Central Ave....every morning.....just walking & smoking, and seemingly in deep thought.....no camera......just made me think how much he must have enjoyed "taking it all in", as well.......”

I responded,

“You are so correct about the correlation between my father’s walks and my own. While I haven’t had a cigarette in 30 + years I think I started taking my walks when I was smoking. 

Back then the alleyways of OCNJ were a different world from the main streets. For my health I quit smoking, Still, the walk has always remained part of my routine. For a time my exercise was obtained riding a bicycle.  I went back to walking because you miss too much. Me I try to shift my walking routes. I try to see all of what is going on but with my myopic vision it doesn’t always work.

I also have my father’s shall we call it approachability. People will see me and just start talking to me. Also I don’t mind striking up a conversation with most any person. I know I lot of special people from the buses in Lansing because of that. I through the years have also met some really wonderful people just through casual conversations.

I offer just a short note from one of my walks. When I travel I usually get up in the morning and leave the hotel seeking some kind of coffee and pastries. I was in I think Lake Louise Alberta and had taken a path down across a little bridge to get to the “best” donut shop per the concierge. 

At the bakery my senses were awash in aromas of cinnamon and chocolate and vanilla. The smell was so good I got a food high as I entered the building. As I looked around there was a tour bus driver was just topping off his coffee. I started joking with him about how it must get boring having to dodge those big horn sheep that wander onto the Icefields Parkway. He laughed. I then asked him a question that was essentially if he wasn’t driving a bus what would he personally go see on the drive.

The man in the grey tour guide’s uniform did not hesitate. He directed me to a waterfall that was off the beaten path. In fact it was so off the beaten path there was a point that you made a turn that was so tight by backing up and twisting your wheels on a landing to accomplish the task. Long story short the waterfall was just amazing. Guess what, if I didn’t take my walks and if I didn’t talk to people I would have missed something special. 

Yeah I owe the old man that. While we had some major differences watching him and mirroring his behaviors made me at least part of what I am today.”