Central West Virginia's Guide To Life

Just Thinking
by Joyce Moler

The understanding is, exercise is a good stress reliever, a good weight reducer, a good body builder… The advantages go on and on. Recently, I decided to walk - indoors. My first thought was to walk outside, but there is essentially no where to go. My childhood was filled with walking in the woods, but here and now, there are no woods unless you want to be arrested for trespassing or jump some fences and basically be in risk of snake bites as well..

Another detail - I would get lost. Once upon a time I read, "Follow the River." A very good read. And if, under unforeseen circumstances I would become lost in the woods, following the river might lead me to civilization.

Also, as kids, my sister and I would walk to the store at the end of our road. The graveled road provided a good skip-to-my-lew path for us. Along the way neighbors on their tractors and in their pick-ups would slow down and wave, ask about us. We had one neighbor who had a gold tooth. The tooth shined like a silver dollar and you could see it every time he smiled. Which he did frequently. His main transportation on bright sunny days was an old red tractor that didn't really look its color anymore, but a dull, faded red with no luster to make it shine. With all the distractions, we were lucky we remembered what mom wanted by the time we got to the store.

In the early grades of school it was necessary for us to walk to the end of our road to catch the school bus. All the neighbor kids living along that stretch of road, up the holler, hiked to the store to ride the big bus to school. Some of the kids walked, probably, a couple of miles. It didn't matter what the weather was, we walked. If it was winter the store would be warm, and on the bus we hopped.

One nice, warm evening, to amuse myself while walking home from school, I decided to play blind. Yes, you've got it right - I was blind as a bat. Closing my eyes, to get the full affect, my world was in total darkness. I took up the stride again, to keep up with the other kids. It wasn't long before I was falling or stepping over the edge of the road that led down to the creek. I was on the ground. Opening my eyes, the game was over. I brushed my clothes off and quickly took an assessment. Nothing was tattered and no bruises or bumps were evident. Looking around at the others walking home from school no one noticed my escapade and was talking as if nothing happened, and Only the good Lord saw the event, perhaps he snickered and went on about His business.

One time, while still a little girl, I walked in the woods with my grandmother. Grandma didn't walk in the woods without a purpose, so there must have been a destination in mind that particular day. While we were trekking through the woods grandma named each of the trees. Grandma knew everything. She could pick wild greens to take home and cook for supper. She knew all our relatives that had been dead and buried a hundred years and all their offspring.

While walking she included a childhood story. She said once as a little girl she had to run through the woods to purchase medicine at the local store. Her dad was sick and as the oldest offspring in a family of a dozen it was her responsibility to complete the mission imposed on her. My great-grandparents lived a distance from local establishments and it was faster to run through the woods, as the bird flies, than to follow the road. With the medicine from the store in hand, she began her run back home. She thought only of her dad, a tall man over six foot with broad shoulders, needing her help. While running home through the woods, she lost a dime. In my grandma's childhood that represented quite a bit of money. I can, to this day, see my grandma retracing her steps, looking for the lost dime. Never to be found, not even on the day grandma retold her story. My great-granddad recuperated, and lived to be an older gentleman into my childhood.

Walking restores one soul. Strolling through the neighborhood, taking a hike on a broken path, following a wooded line, can create memories that last a lifetime.

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