Dad and I went for another walk today, and this time we went off-roading. Well, not entirely. We took the paved path down the hill into the woods around the creek. I held onto him in case he stumbled on the decline, but he did beautifully. He started to breathe a little heavily on the way up the hill, but he was able to catch his breath when we emerged on the grounds of my old elementary school.
We talked about what had changed since it opened in 1980: the wooden play equipment had long ago been replaced by plastic, an even grass field covers the old baseball field, the gym entrance now has a covered walkway, and the trailers are gone from the parking lot. Otherwise, it looks pretty much the same as it did then.
We opted to walk our old running route from that point. As we neared .7 miles, according to my watch, Dad needed a break. We stopped on the sidewalk and rested for a few minutes. I started to get nervous. Had I pushed him too far? Was he in danger of falling down? If so, could I catch him in time? Would he be able to climb the stairs to bed this evening?
“Dad, we can always call Mom or Chris to come get us.”
“No, I’m good. Let’s keep going,” he insisted.
After another quarter mile, we reached a bench at the shopping center just a few blocks from the house. I helped him lower himself onto it, and we continued our ongoing conversation about what’s changed and stayed the same over the years: the insurance company used to be a Stride Rite…the McDonald’s used to be a Roy Rogers…there was a People’s drug store and a Hallmark shop right here before Safeway expanded. Remember the Hunan East, where we would go for everyone’s birthday? Now it’s a different Chinese restaurant. It never gets old, even though we’ve been having pretty much the same conversation for years.
After he climbed the front stairs and was safely ensconced in the kitchen, I felt relieved, though still a bit concerned I had pushed too hard.
I just now texted my mom to check on him.
“He’s feeling fine – wanted to walk with me to get the mail!”
Super!
“Okay, so what have we learned?” I asked myself.
“That I can push harder!”
Just kidding…sort of.
My Corner of the Village 