Did I ever tell you how much I love where my house is located? Because I do! Yes, we live in suburbia. Despite that, we have almost 3/4 of an acre of land and are within walking distance of our grocery store, GoodWill, several other shops, and the YMCA to which we are members. And walk to these places we do, even in the winter. I’m a little ashamed to admit that the criterion we used to choose L4’s preschool program was that we could walk to it (it’s at the Y). It all worked out as she loves it there. Here’s the path we take:
I’ve had to carry her on my back a couple of times this winter because the snow has been too deep for her little legs to trudge through. A workout for me (even on the days that she walks next to me, I’m out and about getting some exercise) and I don’t drive my car the short distance to her school. In all honesty, I think it’s far easier to grab her backpack and head out for our walk then to get the keys, get her buckled into her carseat, drive, park, get her out of her carseat, then drive home.
Sometimes I stop and catch my breath with the realization that some of the simplest actions in our daily lives could be making a difference. Walking to a destination, bringing banana peels home to compost rather than throwing them out at work/school/etc, reusable shopping bags or simply saying, “No bag, please.”: I know they’re small things, but they do add up, right? Especially when we see signs of these types of simple actions on the rise? And then I also remember, “Hey, it makes a difference for us, too!” We spend less on gas, we get more exercise, we have lovely compost to add to our gardens, and less clutter in our home (goodness knows we could use less of that around here!).
Here’s to realizing the beauty and utility of the simple things in our lives. Cheers!
They do add up, indeed. I’m also trying to do things like that, but am sometimes discouraged by the sight of the other people around me… This week only I saw several people throw litter/papers in the street, some collegues using their cars to drive the 0.5 mile to their home (because there’s mud on the pathway…sigh), some others refusing to use public transportation “because they don’t like it”… Thanks for your post, it makes me feel less lonely on the Gaia interest !
Good for you! How wonderful to walk to places…..unfortunately that isn’t possible for eh most part with where I’m located. Shannon