When I was little a friend of the family would sometimes take my sister, brother, and me to McDonalds on Broadway between 95th and 96th. We lived on West End Avenue and 103rd and we complained about how far it was to walk even though it was less than ten blocks.
I thought about kid logic today on my way to work. A mother pushed an empty stroller up a hilly block. Her son, maybe five-years-old said, “Mom, can I get in the stroller?”
“No, you cannot. I want you to walk.”
The kid was too big for a stroller but that hill must have made him ask. Can’t say I blamed him but I felt a strange satisfaction when his mother made him walk. Guess I’m not so young anymore, either.
My sister says she would take me for hikes around the lake when I was still in nursery school, and invariably she would end up up carrying me home on her back. But one day I walked clear around the lake and home all by myself; she said she was so proud of me, it was a moment she'd never forget (and apparently hasn't). Of course since I was a big kid, having that load off your back for the first time should be cause for celebration...
Nice. God, my mom used to take us on hikes through the woods. I never went quietly. BOR-RING.
I love the woods; I don't know why, but I live and breathe much easier. Maybe it's the solitude and gentle cacophony of critters and flowing waters, maybe it's the tacit understanding between all of us to look, but don't touch or maybe it's the gratification of beholding nature virtually unspoiled by humanity and technology. No, the biggest thing to me is the respect we have for each other.
That was Teatown Lake we used to walk around; not so easy for a four year old...
4) Dude, that's crazy you mentioned that. The Mrs was up at Teatown last weekend with a friend (and minus her husband). That's a great comment. Thanks.
[3] Yikes, the woods creep me out. Bugs, insects, strange plants, spooky sounds, Deliverance, hunters, leeches.. Give me concrete, neon and dingy alley-way jazz bars, BABY! :)