Things look a little different when you start your walk a half hour later than usual…
Instead of just the aroma of the beautiful flowers along the streets, you smell coffee being brewed and toast and bacon being served. There are more cars on the streets and more people on the sidewalks. Lots more people.
You get the people who are walking and biking to work. The people who are walking to catch the bus. The kids that are pedaling their way to school. Dog walkers. And the many retired folk who go out for their morning stroll.
That’s how I met Bud this morning.
I walk pretty fast. Arms swinging in rhythm to my feet hitting the pavement. It’s my “power walk”. I mean business when I do it.
I was coming up on a man who had just finished a conversation with another white haired gentleman about 1/8 of a mile ahead of me. My plan was go say a quick hello as I passed him and continue on my fast-paced way.
But he didn’t play fair. When I said good morning to him, he greeted me with the warmest, most welcoming smile. I just had to slow to his pace and find out more about him.
I would guess that Bud is about 75, though he doesn’t look his age. Clearly, his walking routine is working for him. He and his wife have lived in Pleasanton for 40 years.
And here’s the thing I’m finding out about people (and there are lots of them) who have been here that long – they LOVE to talk about their town. The buildings that used to be brothels in the late 1800’s, the architecture of the buildings and why they are so well built. They love to tell you the history of each street and the two pump gas station that has been their since probably the 30’s. How The Wine Steward used to be the old theater and that if you look hard up into the hills you can see the long-ago millionaire’s house that was a big to-do because the town was certain he was spying on them. They’ll tell you stories of how everyone that grew up in Pleasanton married everyone else that grew up in Pleasanton once upon a time and that the biggest scandal was when someone brought a boy home from the neighboring town of Livermore!
Bud shared all of this with me between greeting everyone we passed on our walk. And this conversation that I thought would only be a passing moment led us all through town and down around the library ( a great source of pride for Pleasanton residents :-)), adding probably another mile to my normal route.
It wasn’t my fastest walk, for sure. But while my cardio might not have been as challenging today, it was one of the most enjoyable and sweet walks I’ve been on. And I came away with a new friend and a new understanding of this town that I love. 🙂
As we parted ways, he to go his direction and I to go mine, he told me what a pleasant surprise our encounter and walk was and that I could find him out walking at the same time every morning.
So I’m thinking that this is how it will go every so often. I will start and end my walk at the fast, hard pace that is my norm. But somewhere in the middle I’ll meet up with someone, maybe Bud, maybe one of his friends, and slow my gait to theirs long enough to listen, to learn, to laugh. And maybe, just maybe, I can make their day a little bit brighter like Bud did for me today.
