Urban Walker

Of late I've noticed the widespread usage of the word "Urban." It is seemingly the "in" thing so I thought I would capitalize upon this little five lettered friend before it goes out of style.

I consider myself something of an urban walker. I don't necessarily walk to many destinations but I walk a lot. At work I walk around five to seven miles, around and around and around the restaurant, back and forth, up and down. Hey it's urban and I'm walking. Restaurant walking can be quite entertaining... As a server you just never know who you are going to walk up to and where they are at in their story. Perhaps they are celebrating an anniversary, a return from war, or a promotion. Perhaps they are having an affair (sadly and truly). Perhaps they are making out in one of the little corner boths every single time you come to the table. This style of walking is good practice for counseling I think, and developing what my professors call "containing" or "holding." Meaning keeping a lot of tension, ambiguity, and emotion inside (kind of) on behalf of the other person and yourself. Restaurant walking also strengthens my back and arms as I cary loads upon loads of cheese and meat and chocolate. It's almost a full body workout.

I walk dogs in various locations in Tacoma with no particular destination in mind, only with the purpose of moving around. For the most part I love these walks. Particularly at night in the summer. Tonight after I finished my urban restaurant walking I went straight to dog walking. Warm summer nights such as these are beautiful. My pace slows down and I notice life around me, perspective changes. I love the quiet calmness of sleepy houses. I love the warm lights I don't see during the day, the landscaping illuminated from the ground up rather from the sun. The night smells different, behaves different. Tonight the wind picked up and as I walked under the stoic old pines of North tacoma I felt their presence and that of the lazy air. Cooky looking cats always run around in the shadows. My mind spends time dreaming.

All this to say. I like to walk and I walk a lot. And I hope you get to walk a lot too and really SEE all that surrounds you.