I'm Walking With.......

Over the last couple weeks I've been working on establishing some new routes for my morning walks that won't put me slap-dab in the middle of school traffic on Carter Hill Road (home to both a high school AND an elementary school, on opposite sides of the street).   I've been pretty happy with the changes, and although I'm walking through a neighborhood that abuts mine, it's not one with which I'm terribly familiar.  I just don't do much driving through it to get anywhere.

It's not been the new route that's fascinated me as much as it has been really getting to know my own neighborhood again.  We live right at the outside of it, and rarely spend time in it ourselves.

I leave the house around 6:30 or so, head through Brentwood (where we live) and into Vaughn Meadows (where we don't).  Generally, I get back into Brentwood around 7:15 or so, and back to my house around 7:30.  It has been a treat seeing the little kids who live around here walking to school, and taking the opportunity to see some of our newer neighbors for the first time.

Brentwood has changed a whole lot since we moved in, but we are content here and have no plans to leave it.   We know a few of our neighbors, but not well, as they have changed so rapidly or because we just don't ever see them.  I do regret we've not made more of an effort to change that.

I didn't know, for instance, that at the end of the street just at the dead-end is a member of Montgomery's Fire and Rescue Department.  He's a handsome young man, and we've taken to saying good morning to one another as he leads his three young children on their walk to the elementary school around the corner.  They are adorable, and they follow him, one behind the other, like little ducklings.  This delights me each time I see them.

The first time I saw my favorite "new" neighbor, though, was about a week ago when I spotted her waiting to cross the busy street that runs in front of my house.  She was scared nigh unto death because cars were going so fast, and they were not paying any attention to this precious little person.  She was nearly in tears standing there at the corner, and I took her hand and led her across the street to the sidewalk.

The last couple days, I've seen her but she's been a little earlier, so I've missed being able to help her navigate the traffic.   This morning, however, I passed her house just as she was coming out.  She put one tiny hand over her mouth to hide a little smile, and with the other she sort of waved.   I waved back, and I said, "Come on. If you can keep up with me I'll help you across the street again."

I thought I had scared her, so I looked back and there she was -- right behind me, again with the hand over her mouth suppressing a giggle this time.   I told her I was Miss Eleanor, and I asked her what her name is.

"Destiny."

It's a nice thing, anticipating walking a bit with her every morning.