Reflections on walking

Reflections on walking:

Walking allows the mind to clear and the soul to breathe. Walking awakens the senses allowing a person to enjoy the beauty of the day. Walking engages the senses that have been awakened allowing a person to appreciate the beauty of God's creations!


Reasons for these reflections:

Last week the other carpool mom was out of town, so that left me trying to get Amber to school in the mornings. I wasn't too worried, after all, how hard could it be to get everyone in the car and drive her there? So Monday morning rolls around, and I have about 15 minutes before time to go. I realize, wait, I need to get dressed! Then a couple of minutes later I made the last minute decision that I would let Amber walk to school with some of her friends. She begs me every morning to walk. So I made a phone call to make sure her friend was walking, and then we got everyone out the door. We made it on time! What a feat. I wasn't prepared to walk that morning, but we did it and Amber absolutely loved being able to walk. So I thought, maybe we'll walk all week long. That would be a nice treat for Amber.
Then I came home and was looking at my calendar, reminding myself of activities for the week. Ummmm . . . okay, so maybe walking was not going to work out. I realized I had an online seminar to attend for the next three days. I had to be signed in by 9 a.m. to get the credit for attending. Yikes, yikes, yikes. That's what I get for making rash decisions and getting Amber's hopes up! Never fear, the other moms who had been meeting us were willing to let Amber tag along. I really appreciated them letting Amber tag along. It made her happy to be able to walk. This was a little thing I could do for her so maybe she could have a better day, a better week. John was able to walk with her one of the days and she was so happy to have daddy go with her. What a special treat that was. She ended up being able to walk every day last week.
So Monday this week rolls around. I know there are very few nice days left to walk in the mornings. It is starting to get chilly and I won't be able to justify taking the other kids out. So, when I finished feeding the baby in enough time to let Amber walk, I once again made the last minute decision to walk. But I would have to send Amber on ahead and I would follow in a few minutes with everyone else. I called the carpool mom and told her Amber would be walking. I caught up to Amber about halfway to school. I had to almost run to catch up with her.
Yesterday was the PTA's Walk to School day. I had always planned on letting Amber walk, but I failed to leave as early as I had hoped because I got distracted. I didn't know when the other moms who walk were leaving. So I left and hoped to run into them. Apparently I was too late because I didn't run into any of them on the way. Oh well. It wasn't such a big deal. I'm a big girl and can walk with my children alone. It was actually an uneventful walk. My cousin did catch up with us and walked with the girls for a bit and then ran ahead to catch her friend. I think Amber was a little disappointed to not have her friends walk with her, but it happens. I stayed with her until her teacher took her inside. She was so excited that I stayed.
I was going to stay and let the other two play on the playground for awhile. But after a couple of minutes Emma was complaining about needing to go potty. I decided it would be best to head home rather than fighting to get her into the school restroom! It turned out she didn't need to pee as bad as she thought and we were able to take a nice leisurely walk home. We didn't have a reason to hurry, we didn't have to keep up with anyone else.

So with the few times I have walked with Amber, I have had time to think, to just be outside, and enjoy the fresh air. It has been a nice change from the regular routine. Now back to our routine, back to the carpool. I will miss walking, but I also enjoy the less hectic morning.