Changing With the Times

I guess I’ve always walked more than your ‘average’ person.  My family used to do long bush walks, hill walks (whatever walks really) as a fun family thing on a weekend or holiday.  We walked to school, we walked to the shops, we walked to church. 

Then when Munchkin came I walked a LOT.  Having a beautiful walkway just five minutes wamble from my front door is a great incentive.  I could go for twenty minutes (about as long as I could carry him on my back – with a stop at a seat at half-time!).  I’d often go at twice a day. 

 

Munchkin started out in a front-pack.  This is the beach.  Believe me, it is!

 

 

Then there was the fabulous back-pack.  Seen here modelled by Daddy and Munchy, arriving at the beach.

But now that Munchkin is wanting to walk more, things are changing. 



 

I like to set a good walking speed.  He likes to stop and look at everything.  Really, everything.

And he just can’t walk the distances I am used to going.

 

How fast time has flown.  Strolling on the boardwalk now no longer needs the stroller!

 

Munchkin has his own pram to push these days!

Plus there’s the other changes in our lives in the past year or so.

Such as me going back to classes.  No more distance study means more driving, more classes, and less time for walks in between.

Preschool also curtails the walking.  Munchkin simply doesn’t need a walk most days after preschool.  He’s pooped.  He’s been busy running round like a mad thing, building, digging, talking, creating.  I on the other hand, have usually been in class, or stuck here at my laptop working on an assignment.  Gone are the days of regular family hour-long walks.  At least until the temperatures cool down enough during the day for Boyo.  His night-shifts mean on days we can walk together, we’re not ready to head out till it’s pretty warm.  Too warm for Boyo many days lately.  But we’ve ad-libbed a bit, taking dinner to the beach instead of a walk earlier in the day, for instance.

It’s strange though, realising that this huge part of my life-style that I really love, that I pride myself in, is all but extinct.  I even drive to the shops to buy bananas.  It’s a fifteen minute walk.  One way.  On my own.  Which means it is never that simple.  So I’m usually stopping on the way home from preschool instead in an attempt to save time and sanity.

I used to have our stroller out almost every day.  Now, I might not have it out once a week.  Strange when I got to the point where it felt strange to walk without it.

Have you noticed how things change in your lifestyle dependent on the age/stage of your family? 

 

Life is a constant flux of change.  Some we are ready for, some we are not.  Some that is self-imposed, but much that comes against our will.

It’s not that walking is no longer important to me.  It just doesn’t fit with everything else as well right now.  I do hope things balance out again so I can enjoy many more walks in the years ahead.

 

On one of several jaunts up Mauao, Mount Manganui this summer.

 

In the meantime, the walkway is still there.  There is still a small hand to hold from time to time (and Boyo still likes holding my hand too!), birds to listen for, small things to notice as we walk, places to hide and jump out and 'scare' each other, and many fun adventures to be had.  Walking is relaxing.  Walking is fun.  Walking is something we do together, and I do alone. Sometimes we walk because we need the exercise.  Sometimes to get to a destination.  And sometimes just because it refreshes our souls.  I hope my son grows up knowing that.

 

Amy