Learning to Walk

All the places I have ever lived have been extremely unconducive to walking. Either there were rednecks in large pickups trying to run you over, or everything in town was so spread out you'd have to walk hours to get anywhere. So in the previous places I've lived, walking was associated with... well... homelessness. When you would see the same people walking all the time, you think, "There's that guy who walks," and you recognize them because they walk everywhere.

Now we have moved to the perfect little town, and everything is within walking distance. No one tries to run you over, and I don't fear for my daughter's safety as she rides in the stroller. So we've been walking. Not just for exercise, but to run errands, go shopping, whatever. I can't make it very far yet, but I figure I'll get better as I go.

But I feel like I'm having to learn to walk. I don't want people to look at me and think weird things! *blush* Now why on earth do I care about that?! Maybe they can think, "There's that lady. The one who walks for exercise," or "the one who cares about the planet," or "Look how sweet! That mama took her baby for a walk!" I guess it's a different culture here, where people actually CAN walk safely. Maybe no one here associates it with homelessness like they do in previous places I've lived.

And so, I'm learning to walk. Learning to not care what other people think of me. Learning to take care of myself, and my daughter, and the planet.