On the Blog Title

I went for another walk yesterday and I was thinking that I ought to explain from whence the name of this blog came.  Let’s breakitdaahnnow (say that fast, like a hep cat.  There you go.)

Walking: I like to walk.  I need to walk.  It’s how I keep my brain working and my legs from being restless.  It gives me a chance to pray (the listening part of prayer, especially), think, and listen to music.  I walk to work more and more.  It’s one of my favorite things to do because it gives me a chance to notice.  Stay tuned for a blog post called “Walking Like a Sailor.”

Awesome: On a simple level, walking is awesome, so there is that.  But what makes walking so awesome for me is that it fills me with awe.  Pretty much no matter where I am walking or what I’m thinking about as I truck along.  For instance, I was recently marveling at the way the unmown grass by the pizza shop became a beautiful urban meadow.  I wanted to sink down into it and do some photography because the fire hydrant in the midst of the flowers would have toyed with perspective.  I never went back to do the photography because they mowed it down the next day, but just observing it filled me with awe at how much beauty can reside in a neglected tree lawn.  If I’m thinking about work, my family, God, or my own little aspirations and desires, it makes me see how amazing life is.  It fills me with awe.  But “Walking Awe Full” would have been a pretty bad name for a blog.

Walking Awesome:  It also makes a little play on words for Walking Dead, which Munk and I watch regularly and analyze enthusiastically.  When I started this blog, I had designs to write up my own analyses after each episode because I see so much more happening than is being discussed by the analyses that are out there right now.  Who knows if that will happen once school starts and life gets crazier again.

So there it is- Walking Awesome.  

I wrote this entry a few weeks ago.  The day I wrote it, I had an awe-some walk that went a little like this: Scene: Evening and a particularly good itunes shuffle. I saw the adult twin of one of my students from last year.  He seemed so happy walking his dog and walking in the park I just hoped that the same future would lie ahead for my student.  He was making some bad decisions for himself, but I’m hoping he turns it around and that someday he is walking his dog in the park like that guy.  Then I briefly spoke to some Mormon missionaries, which made me feel good.  Then I ran into two former AP students and got to chat with them.  I saw a parent of another student (except I couldn’t remember which student was hers! Eep!), and met a nice dog named Jake.  And by nice dog, I mean horrible creature, but less horrible than most dogs.  The whole package left me in awe of the fullness of my life and so happy to walk in the door and hear the laughter and feel the hugs of my children.  I realize this doesn't make a good story and that most of this seems trivial.  Maybe that's the point.  That's where a lot of the awe lives.

And since we're talking about titles of things, here's a song for you: