HTBC: Look Up When You Are Walking
Or: how a NYC walker slowed down and ditched her headphones.
My mid-twenties were spent living in New York City. Specifically in Manhattan, on the Upper East Side. Feet are to New Yorkers what a car likely is to you. It is the vehicle by which one gets around. I spent my mid-twenties walking to get places.
During those years I never left home without my iPod and headphones. My ears would be full of music while I be-bopped around pedestrians, bicycles, yellow cabs, dogs, garbage, puddles, rats, and tourists. Sure, I’d notice changes now and then in my favorite neighborhoods, but seeing or noticing was always a byproduct of my foot travel.
Once I made it back to Albany I started to join my father on his nigh daily walks. Years ago, after a heart attack, he’d decided to make some changes, and walking every day is one that has stuck. So, we would walk around our neighborhoods and talk. (My initial “New York pace” has long worn off.) For a while I hesitated to take similar style walks alone. Why? The only answer I have is fear. Of what exactly, I couldn’t tell you.
Gladly, this summer, I moved through that fear and got going.
Now it has been a few months of putting “Look Up When You Are Walking” into action. Me and my feet, no headphones, very little time looking at my phone. What have I seen?
One tree that is teeming with birds twittering every time I pass by. Dear friends out walking with their babies. Old friends walking their dogs. Young people running. Old people running. A child learning to ride a bike. Houses for sale, houses sold. Homeowners doing yard work. Landscapers doing paid word. A decaying skunk. A dead bird. Ambulances, fire trucks, and cops. Masked faces, unmasked faces. Signs for street fairs, farmer’s markets, chicken dinners, Black Lives Matters, countless candidates, #518RainbowHunt. Dozens of Little Free Libraries. Houses getting a new addition. Delivery trucks. Moving trucks. Friends driving home from work. So many male robins (no Batmen, yet). Perfectly red Japanese maple leaves. Snow flurries. Sunsets. Threatening skies. A RBG decal on a backseat car window.
In the comments tell me what you see when you look up while walking.
RESOURCES
Series Introduction: “HTBC: How To Build Community”
Poster: How To Build Community
Song: “Walking After Midnight” by Patsy Cline
Evergreens tied to roofs. Evergreens in the back of pickups. Houses decorated for Christmas. Santa hats.