Glad to be

I have met so many interesting people in the few days since I left. Two of the most memorable where women who had made good changes for their health. One had just been notified by her doctor she no longer needed to take medications for her diabetic condition because she had changed her diet and walked to work everyday instead of driving. A simple things that over time showed results.
A woman was talking with me about her mother who was suffering because she did not take care with her diabetes. Then she told me she knew it could be helped. She knew from personal experience. She had once weighed four hundred pounds and now was well under half that weight. She said it took a lot of walking and healthy diet but it could be done.
I am excited to be back on the path.
Like a child in his first week back from summer-break who is glad to be back at school.

Circles, bridges, connections and directions.

I began walking a week ago to my last chiropractor visit. I was staying at my good friends home on the outskirts of Louisville. It took two days to get into town. To the neighborhood where I first began rolling the world, seventeen years ago. with my then seven year old son.
The third day I walked by the cemetery to my mother's memorial. Then I walked around the park in which we played. Where I, thru peer pressure, got the idea to walk for diabetes awareness.
The next day I rested. I am rehabbing my pinched nerve, but wanted to get a feel of how well I could carry the weight of the backpack and shoulder bag.
On Thursday I worked.
Yesterday I walked the rest of the way to the chiropractor's office.
A day early.
I wanted a picture of us together by the world.
Without his expertise I could not be back on the road today.
This morning, Saturday, I had my last visit before I left. My back feels better than it has in years. Aside from the nerve situation, that only time will heal, I feel I am getting better.
We are officially back on the road.
Friday after I stopped at Dr. Fred's we rolled through downtown and onto the bridge over The Ohio River into Indiana.
A friend of mine has a home just over the bridge where we stowed the world away.
I have walked from Fern Creek to the Highlands, around Cherokee Park, up the steepest cobblestone street left in the city to Doc's, then thru old Butchertown and up Louisville's Main St. to the Clark Memorial Bridge.
I made it half of the way across in the "shared bike lane" that was clearly marked when a Louisville policeman had me get off the roadway. I was not riding a bicycle. I then balanced the world atop the outside rail of the bridge and rolled it to the Indiana side.
Bikes, world balls.
Potatoes, potatoes.
No harm, no foul. He was doing his job and the world is safely away.
Two weeks ago the construction for another bridge over the river began and many routes have been closed; adding extra burden on the bridge.
I was surprised I got as far as I did. Four years ago we rolled over the same bridge in the morning of the Kentucky Derby.There was no Northbound traffic and only a few cars going south.
I was there for lunch hour, Friday.
Moving on...
I wrote a few partial post during this week of reflection. I will now post these all at once, incomplete as they may be..
Such as the detail ---where am I going?
It's a surprise!

Quite at Home

I know I've been quiet when I have been back home in Louisville. We returned at the beginning of July. We have been healing at a pre-Civil War era home in the old outskirts of the county; an area called Fern Creek.
My dear friends have let me stay with them. They love Nice (the dog) and he loves them. After I returned from Florida my injuries compounded and I could hardly walk.
After many visits to the chiropractor Dr. Fred has adjusted my spine and rehabbed the pinched nerve.
When he fooled all the muscles in both legs to loosen, they ached bruise-like for days. Now, by walking, I am building back strength. The nerve is still regaining circulation, the muscles have atrophied after being so tense for months.
Most of the sensation has returned to my leg and foot. Doc says it will be several months, nerves heal slowly.
In a way it is good that I have to rehabilitate myself. I won't push Nice (the dog) too fast. He is still recovering his strength and endurance after his double knee surgery in March.
Dr. Fred wanted to see me one more time this Saturday before we left for our next adventure.
This walk is to my roots, so why not begin where I am quite at home?
Since I am staying so far out of town I have begun by walking to The Highlands Neighborhood and the area where I first ventured from my yard with the world back in the last century.
The first day we walked

Crossroads, stepping stones and forks in the road.

Reminiscing...
The day before I had planned a picnic in the park we had the memorial service for my mother.
I had borrowed the world from the woman who would later give it to me instead of tossing it out in the trash. Her and I had been assistants in a week-long summer camp where i was the game coordinator. She had gotten the giant game-ball from a school system that had retired the world because of its liability.
If I had not planned a picnic, on a whim, I may have never been called to save the world. The woman knew that I liked interacting with the world and when she tired of dragging the pile of canvas and rubber around her basement. She gave me the chance to save it from the garbage pile.
I had called everyone I knew to come enjoy a Sunday playing games and socialize, for no particular reason..
There was an egg-toss, sack races, watermelon eating contest, water balloon games, volleyball, and more.
Hundreds showed up, much to my surprise. Coordinating the activities was a great thing to occupy my mind just four days after loosing my mother. It was also a fine way to honor her.
Today,twenty six years later, I am back at the pavilion and field where, in a way, the seed was planted looking back.

Walk for your health, it's your world.

All the banter boils down to this.
I walk the world to get others to walk.
Activity and diet can prevent, control, and sometimes reverse diabetes.
Love yourself, walk.

Stuff

Luggage, baggage, balls and chains.

Oh, I have a lifetime of all things to carry or shed. A time bomb, a blessing. It's all up to me.
I think of how many collections of things I spent years compiling, organizing, storing and moving. Furniture, family momentous, clothes, books, music, tools, trinkets of sentimental value, piles of useful supplies for projects and art.
As the years passed, the possessions grew.
My homes became larger, as my "needs" did.
I am shackled to all I wish to possess.
One day I began finding homes for my luggage. Each day I would carry an item out and give it away.
I enjoyed more in giving them away, than the hoarding.
I let someone else use or enjoy them.
Though now reduced to several boxes and a world of tools,
my possessions are a ball and chain.

More feeling

A few visits to the chiropractor have eased the pain more than I thought they could. The searing pain from my lower back and the numbness is lessening everyday. It's good to have someone who knows my history and listens before he makes an adjustment.

You can too

I was walking Nice (the dog) this morning as the sun burned through the grey clouds. I didn't have my phone to capture the beautiful orange ball amongst the pines. The one that got away.
As we came to the end of our hour long stroll we approached a man walking in the opposite direction. I guided Nice to the lush green Kentucky grass so the man could pass.
We exchanged "good mornings"and he asked if my dog was friendly. By the time I had given his name, Nice was leaning against the man's leg.
The man told me he was glad to meet someone out walking with a "big heart and a smile on their face".
I hadn't noticed that I was smiling, or that my heart was so visible.
I was only walking the dog.
The man's comment got me thinking... Can a smile change the world?
I think that if I can make a positive change, anyone can.

Keep on trying anyway...

It may hurt
I may wince
Bones may pop
My joints may crunch
The winds still blow
Rains will fall
Pace slows, yet...
I still go.

"Welcome to Prius."

The "down side" of tiny cars is getting in and out. I rode with a friend in his Prius and popped my back out again.
Since then I have not been able to walk without disabling discomfort.
At least I am back home and can visit the chiropractor who knows my history.
The display panel in the Prius, when the car is turned on says, "Welcome to Prius."
I did not feel welcome crawling in and out of the small car and may never ride in one again.

What I do when I go back home.

I walk with a friend.

Energy

Keeping the energy up has been a challenge.
I drove home to Kentucky yesterday.
The Florida heat was too much to continue walking there this time of year.
I didn't take Nice (the dog) to find his long lost friend in Jupiter.
Perhaps another time, when it is not so hot.
My first day back in Louisville I visited friends and family.
I met with my sister for breakfast early in the morning. She had been visiting her daughters and was about to drive out of town. The last time we saw each other I was walking out of town, she was headed back back to her job up north.
Many things have transpired during the past six months that I have felt validated my decisions. Meeting my sister when I began this chapter six months ago, then again when I returned somehow made sense.
After I said goodbye to my sister , I went to visit my friend, 94 year old Helena. She was outside, like she had been waiting for me. At ninety four, I was concerned I might not see her again. Her granddaughter (the woman who gave me Nice(the puppy) had told me she had fallen several times while I was away. Seeing the old woman's smile was heartwarming .
Nice (the dog) and I walked for hours around the neighborhoods where he had grown up. His happiness was infectious. He pulled me to visit old neighbors and friends. We stopped at every bush and tree. He smiled and cooed all day.
The last I person I visited was my son. We talked for hours. Rather I listened to him talk about school , his new job and his new girlfriend. I brought a box of things I had collected for him. I felt like I had when he was a child opening presents for the holidays or his birthday. It was great to see him happy after years of his struggle to find his way. Seeing him again was one of the best moments of the year.
The first day out of Pensacola, I got a ride from a man who had asked me to send pictures of single shoes I saw on the side of the road.
Once finished with the walk to Tampa, I found a shoe and had to stop for my last picture of Tampa. A shoe for his oneshoediaries.com .
While we were four months on Spring Hill, I continued posting on this blog. It was not easy. I usually stop posting between walks. The views to the page were not large. As long as I posted something, the small group followed. I was surprised, validated. The visits will likely fall off to nothing now, as they have in previous walks.
That is as it should be.
My thoughts are spinning and I need more time to make sense of what I have learned and seen.
Now that I am back in Kentucky ,we will nest here for awhile. Heal for a brief time. Build strength.
Gather energy.
Then step out again to help change the world.

http://youtu.be/FqbBCPIUo84