On Sunday I went for a walk with a few friends and I learned that walking five and a half miles is really quite lovely. It's the walking the five and a half back that sucks. I also was fascinated at the different view I got while walking as opposed to driving. Because I walk much slower than I drive I see much more and the fact that I am three feet closer to the ground while walking I smell a lot more things too. My view while walking allows me to see houses I never knew were just off the main streets, the size of trees and just how many people throw their trash on the side of the road. People should be like me and just store their trash in the back of their car until a proper receptacle is found, or until the show 'Hoarders' contacts you as a potential participate.
We walked to my favorite buffet; Costco but sadly the sample ladies had packed it in for the day. As a matter of fact by the time we got to Costco it was ten minutes till closing. We had just enough time to use the facilities, buy a snack that just negated the five and a half miles we had walked and sit down for a few minutes. There is something liberating about walking into a Costco and knowing they will not get more money than my Mocha Freeze costs me. Anyone can say as they go into Costco, “all I need is a pallet of Diet Pepsi, 90 rolls of toilet paper and some steak” but it’s another thing all together to leave Costco under budget with just the things on your list. Something comes over me in that warehouse setting. Some primal survival hunting and gathering switch, which makes me, want to store up for winter. It’s precisely this phenomenon that makes it slightly uncomfortable when walking into Costco with only my Camelback as transportation home for anything I buy…needless to say the trampoline had to stay this time. As we left Costco and headed home we realized that the amount of daylight left did not equal the amount of miles we had to walk. Our pace quickened for a good seven minutes until we remembered how much walking fast is almost like running and running is from the devil. And lately I have been adopting some practices from my Greek Orthodox cousins of spitting at the devil. So if I do ever spit at you, do not be offended, just know I find some sort of evil in you, that’s all.
With about two miles to go dusk had arrived and for a brief moment I became a little scared. You will never find me walking in my town at night, never! Not all parts of Vista are bad, in fact the parts of Vista are not bad, just the people who may be occupying them at any given time are; just like anywhere else in the world. My fears subsided when I realized if attacked I could throw one of my fellow walkers in the path in front of the attacker and me and then outrun the others to safety. Of course then I would call for help for the others, of course!
Needless to say we made it back with eleven miles under our belts. I have a new respect for Jesus and the apostles ministering as they walked. I mean they didn’t even have a Costco card.
