Doug Loves Sarah, Week 22 of 52

The Walks

Sarah and I went on a walk, last night, around and about Huntville's Big Spring Park, which is a pleasant little punch of nature in the middle of what passes as a downtown for us. It was fun, relaxing. We caught up some with an old friend, got to do some stair climbing, and got to be greeted by various teens and drunken folk. We got asked, in the middle of it, by a woman sitting by herself if this was a safe place to be, and I am still not looking forward to hearing about her brutal murder since I told her it would be safe to stay there and occasionally my ironic luck spreads to those around me. If that last sentence made no sense, that is ok. Let me reassure you, though, Big Spring Park is a fairly safe place to be. It has a certain way of being too dark in places and having a sort of mood lighting in others, but it tends to be a force for good.

Sarah and I really met in the honor's lounge, expanding upon a series of pretty much casual "sitting near one another"s from a class we had previously. Sarah and I honestly became friends, though, while walking. And there was always a pattern to our walks. I went slightly in front, most often to her left. The plan, you see, was for me to take down any spider webs and to generally keep a look out.

The reason walking was so important to our early days as friends, though by time we became lovers our situation changed and we moved and our walks have never gotten back up to the full level they were at that time, was because I had been walking for about a year for my health. This habit was a great one for me, and losing it, as I have, has only been one problem after another. I can say, honestly, that there are few places to walk here at our apartment, and I do not want to walk at the Mall (I don't want to be at the Mall longer than necessary, and turning walking into a Mall activity seems to be a form of insanity). So, we do not walk anymore.

The upshot of all of this is that I gained weight back, though I am not completely out of shape, and that main activity that defined our early relationship is gone from it.

Which, in itself, is not a bad thing. Most early relationships involve fakish chatter and cheap gifts. All good relationships have to grow up.

But last night let me know that I kind of want walking back. For my health. For hers. For just once going back to that point in time where that 26 year old man and that 19 year old girl were honestly happy in each other's company and there were no strings attached. I am glad that strings came later, do not get me wrong, but it is good to be a "kid" again. Just every once in a while. And, of course, to lose weight.