Good afternoon Houston and beyond, The Mad Houstonian, here.
As an Everwalk Ambassador I'd like to invite you to get in touch with your creative side and join me on a little "Word-A-Day" journey, as we exit the 1st decade of the 21st Century and enter the 2nd.
Beginning December 1st, the Everwalk Theme Team began posting an inspirational word each day, on the Everwalk Nation Facebook Group Page.
You are invited to share whatever thoughts or stories each word invokes in you, related to walking, with the group, your walking community, and social media.
I will be posting my contribution on this blog and sharing it with the group and I encourage readers to respond in my comments, below.
For anyone who is wondering what Everwalk is....let me introduce you to the movement.
EVERWALK NATION: Discover the EPIC Within You!
This series began, here.
The 4th word is "Footing".
What does that word bring to mind as it might relate to walking? How do you find your "Footing"? Does it find YOU?
When I think of "Footing" several things come to mind: Shoes, health, and creativity.
I walk everywhere. I have done so all my life.
Right from the start, from my earliest days of standing on my own two feet and moving about to explore the world around me, shoes have been important to me.
I still have the little pair of shoes I must have been wearing when, as a toddler, a year, or 2 old, my parents took me with them on a visit to historic Chinatown, in Los Angeles...and I soon wandered off to explore the place on my own.
How, exactly, they lost me was never explained, neither was how long I went missing before they found me.
All I know about this event is that I was found sitting on the lap of some grizzled old Chinaman, all smiles and giggles.
As I grew older my feet grew, too.
Eventually I grew into size 12 shoes. tennis shoes of the right size and comfort level were hard to find, and I moved on to sneakers of various types, good for walking.
Again, size and comfort level varied as models and brands came and went.
9 years ago I discovered New Balance shoes, and when I moved to Houston, in 2012, I discovered that I could get them in Wide 4E.
I've worn a couple of different models and found them comfortable.
The condition of my feet, and legs, have always been important to me, more so since the Summer of 2011 when I broke my right ankle investigating a black cat in a drainage ditch.
At the time I wrote a poem that began this way:
Twinkle, twankle, my poor ankle,
When you are fixed will you still take me far?
Everywhere I want, stepping spry,
Giving it the Old College Try.
Twinkle, twankle, my poor ankle,
When you are fixed will you still take me far?
When I sought that Cat in a ditch,
You broke, and hurt like a Son of a Bitch!
My first look gave me such a fright,
That I thought you'd never again be right.
Twinkle, twankle, my poor ankle,
When you are fixed will you still take me far?
After a year, when it was considered healed, as I moved to Texas, I could not afford to keep up physical therapy, or go to a gym, but I never stopped walking.
My feet (especially the ankle which still has the metal inside it, from the surgery) are always painful, the docs say I have early onset Arthritis, and I can't haul ass like I used to, to catch a bus, cross a busy intersection, or avoid some stray dog if need be, but I still walk anywhere from 5 to 9 miles at one time, and sometimes 10-20 miles a day.
If it wasn't for my 2 feet, where they carry me every day, and my love of taking those journeys, on foot, or by bike, the opinionated, creative, writer and photographer I have become the last 20 years might not have been.
When I look at that poem, in the above photo, this Everwalker can see another version:
I want to do my first 20 mile walk, maybe eventually an "Epic" walk, someday.
I want to get away...on my own 2 feet.
Feet I can trust to get me where I want to go.
Backpack, water bottle, snacks, walking stick, notepad, camera and all.
Explore places. Stop a lot just to take photos.
Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at joints no one but the locals have heard of.
Take the time to observe my surrounding and admire the view.
I want to make memories to share through my writing and camera.
I want to feel alive!
ONWARD!!!
NEXT UP -- EVERWALK NATION: Inspirational Word of the Day - Motivation
Comments