The simple pleasures of walking

It's an easy mannerism to assume. I might not have been able to write like these poets but I could take walks as they did, I thought.

In college, walks were my only escape from the hordes of people who surrounded me in the dormitory, boardinghouse, classes, parties, dates, meetings, and library sessions. Wherever I went, I constantly had people telling me what to do or asking me what I thought or felt. I figured out the answers on my walks.

I remember one tramp in the pouring rain when I made a decision to break off a serious relationship with a boyfriend, and another when I cobbled together my own explanation for the rise and fall of American imperialism.

During my children's infancy, they and the stroller and I were a familiar quartet as we wandered our way down the sidewalks, poking at roly-poly bugs with pine needles, shouting the colors of parked cars, or making up rhymes about our progress.

As time went on, I often grabbed my walking shoes in times of despair. My hobby was set early, and I've continued because of the stimulation and solace that walking brings.

And because I walk so often, I now have a list of my favorite walking spots. One of my favorite spots is a park near my house. The park is familiar yet ever-changing; it lets me experience the cycle of the seasons at my convenience.

I also enjoy walking anywhere with my children, Lily and Seamus, who constantly open my eyes to new discoveries – rolling down a hill, tracking a squirrel, or finding a sparkly rock.

And I always relish walking in cities new to me. I recently discovered Atlanta's multitude of streets with "Peachtree" in their names by walking the length of midtown and downtown. Getting lost on a walk in the Paris harbor district with my husband is a treasured memory, too.

I'm convinced that you deserve the unadulterated pleasure of walks for their own sake. But if you're still not convinced, I've provided a list of excuses you can try on for size:

First, get a dog. You not only have a justification to take a walk, you have a moral obligation. And not just once a day, but several times.

Second, try building walks into your exercise program.

Last, borrow a child or two. You can claim you're expanding their horizons and teaching them about nature.

Artist Winslow Homer said, "The sun will not rise, or set, without my notice and my thanks." Where else can you notice the sun's movements except on a walk – an opportunity to appreciate joy in the world for its very existence?

Another inspired quote about walking comes from Raymond Inmon, who said, "If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man [and, one assumes, a woman] when he goes for a walk."

I think that these are both excellent motives for allowing yourself the guilty pleasure of walks.

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