Feature: The Outside Looking In

Week 8: Pondering Life on Solo Walks

Author: Carol Richtsmeier
Published: June 22, 2010 at 8:05 am
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I walk because I want to, not because I have to.

Still, training for the 3-day for the Cure can not only be time consuming (I logged 19.5 miles), but troublesome as well.

My solo training walks leave plenty of time for introspection, and at this point in my life, I’m not sure that is a good thing with a bit more than half my life over.

That song (10,000 Stones) by Adrianna bounces around in my brain…
“My days are filled mistakes
Some that I didn’t make
I carry them around…

See what I mean?

With my trusty four-legged companion Jack, we walk and walk, and I talk and talk in the bubble above my head and ponder all kinds of things.

From mundane things like why I never went to Paris, why I can't sing or more importantly why  Oprah won't read my book.

I ponder other things as well like…

Why we can put a man on the moon, but can’t cap an oil well that has been spewing oil into the gulf since April 20.

Why cases like the disappearance of Natalie Holloway can't be solved and justice served.

Why people like Dallas Police Chief  David Brown can devote their lives to public service and fighting crime and then have their only son be named the killer of another police officer in a tragic Father's Day shooting.

See what I mean?

Sometimes on these walks I wish  Jack could talk. Maybe he knows some of the answers. Sometimes I think  if I walk far enough, maybe some day I’ll find the answers especially to some more personal questions ricocheting around my brain.

I may just have to walk down the path of forever for that.

In the meantime, I silently sing the chorus…
“Ten thousand stones hanging deep in my heart
No, I don’t know how they don’t tear me apart…”

 
 

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Article Author: Carol Richtsmeier

Carol Richtsmeier teaches journalism at a public high school in Texas where her students and publications have won numerous local, state and national awards. She chronicles her teaching escapades in her blog at mybellringers.blogspot.com. …

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