Wednesday, March 23, 2011

the question answered, or the wind's council...

After just a few hours from leaving North Carolina my shoulders began to ache again. I had slipped on ice on two separate occasions back in December injuring both shoulders but the pain disappeared as I pushed the weight of the world over five hundred miles and four States. Now I have trouble sleeping because the shoulder joints sting when I relax and "fall" asleep. What does that have to do with the title of this little post? Nothing. I complain sometimes...
The question I've been asking myself is not so much where I should walk but where I should begin. If I start my next walk in the nearest state that we have not stepped foot in we will begin in Tennessee; probably around Nashville. If I was wanting to be a slacker, a wimp, I would begin on the west coast and walk east so I could take advantage of the prevailing winds that flow from the west to the east. I could begin in Minnesota or Iowa. I am saving Michigan for later; it is the last state in the north east I have not walked in. Would you call Michigan north east or mid north? Anyway, It will have it's turn in good time, including the upper peninsula; some part of it at least.
When I returned back home two weeks ago the walkway to my door had collected the last leaves from the oak tree that had fallen and swirled in the recess at the bottom step by the city sidewalk. I filled a few trash cans with leaves upon my return. While raking the leaves I pondered where to go when I "leave". After taking the filled cans to the back by the garage I noticed a piece of paper the wind had blown into the nook by the step that I had just cleared. When I picked up the paper which was a weathered page from a book the first words on the top of the this seemingly random trash carried to my door by the wind said"east to west..." And the title of the book was "open season". So, I guess I will have to take it as a sign from my teacher; the Wind. I will walk against the winds from east to the west and be open for the season to what blows my way. And love every moment I can.
Yes, this is how I make my decisions. By a torn weathered page from a book I will never read that had tire tread marks and dirt in the folds. I can't begrudge the messenger...

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