These Boots Are Made For Walking

At forty-five years of age, I thought I was done walking - well, not literally done, as in never to walk again. Done with walking long distances - you know, no farther than from the house to the pickup or, from the pickup into a store. Apparently however, I needed a little more exercise than I was getting.

A couple of weeks ago, I took my pickup in for some repairs. I was supposed to have it back that afternoon. With my wife at work, and not a single one of my three children around to give me a ride (since they ALL moved out) I walked home. It wasn’t that far actually; the walk took exactly eleven minutes. Later that afternoon, although the shop hadn’t called to say the truck was ready, I walked back. Another eleven minutes - for nothing as it turns out because they were not finished. It would be another couple of hours, they said. So, back to the house I went - walking.

Waiting patiently (as patiently as can be expected from a very impatient guy) for the time to pass, I returned to the shop - again, on foot. And again, the pickup wasn’t ready. And to make things worse, they’d found other issues that needed to be addressed. To fix it would take a couple of days. Okay, looks like I’m walking one more time, I thought. By now I was up to fifty-five minutes. For a guy not used to walking much, it might as well have been fifty-five hours! I was getting a little tired to say the least. But, as I discovered in the next few days, my legs were just getting broken in.

Down to only one vehicle, my wife and I learned to share. Since we work opposite shifts, her in the morning (like a normal person) and me at night, it wasn’t that hard - although, quite inconvenient. She had no car at night and I had none during the day. Which meant, if I wanted to go anywhere, it was back to my primary mode of transportation (as my son refers to it) my feet. I lost track of the trips - and the minutes - but for the last couple of weeks, I have done more walking than any one person should have to endure!

I do have the pickup back now. The guy from the repair shop called the other day to say it was finished. Finally! All I needed to do was go pick it up. Great. Just one little problem though, my wife was at work and with no kids at home (Did I mention they ALL have moved out? I’m not bummed about it or anything) the only way to get there was to walk. Then came the surprise. After two weeks, I was a little more in shape. Apparently, all my walking had done some good - the trip took only nine minutes!

To be fair, either of my kids who live in town, as well as my wife, would have given me a ride - if I had asked. And in reality, they did run me around quite a bit. But they are busy so I tried not to ask. Besides, at forty-five years of age, I would’ve thought I was done asking for rides.

Bruce A. Borders, author and songwriter, has over 500 songs and more than a dozen books. Over My Dead Body, The Journey, and Miscarriage Of Justice, his latest books, are available on Apple I-Pad®, Amazon Kindle®, Barnes & Noble Nook® and Sony Reader®, Kobo, Diesel Books, and Smashwords. Now also available in print at many online retailers or at www.bruceabordersbooks.weebly.com. The popular Wynn Garrett Series Books are now available on Barnes And Noble® at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/?series_id=867526 See Bruce’s Smashwords Profile at www.smashwords.com/profile/view/BruceABorders

It's A Family Thing

A lot can happen in 25 years. Take me for instance; 25 years ago, I was a single guy living in an 8 x 25 trailer. One person to consult or consider on any decision, one mouth to feed, one back to clothe, one gas tank to fill – you get the idea.

Then, I got married and that’s when things began to change. Suddenly, there twice as many to take into account, twice as many to feed and clothe. Double of everything, including bills. True, there were also two incomes, but that is a false sense of assurance. There’s a line from an old song that says, “It costs three times as much for two to live as cheap as one.” I can certainly relate. Yet, it was a good trade off. Two are better than one, at least when it comes to family.

Aside from the financial aspect, the changes brought by an additional person are evident in many other ways as well. (Apparently, an 8 x 25 trailer isn’t nearly big enough for two people). Two cars were now needed. And, it took twice as long to take care of the everyday household tasks and run errands. The number of people multiplied by two equals twice the responsibilities, but twice the fun too.

Then our family started growing more. We had kids. (No, not baby goats; children for those of you who are particular about that sort of thing). First one child, then another, and then another. With the addition of each child came more changes and responsibilities; more places to go, more activities in which to be involved, a bigger house, and more things in the house. Our amassed collection of belongings seemed to grow almost exponentially. My wife would tell you it’s mostly my stuff – junk as she calls it – because I keep everything. That’s partly true, I don’t usually get rid of anything, I might need it! But a substantial portion of the things in our house is not mine.

As the kids grew older, the nature of the items underwent a transformation from toys to more useful things like bicycles and then cars – definitely a lot of cars. At times, the fleet of vehicles parked outside my house seemed to suggest I’d gotten into the used car business.

A few years ago, we gained a son-in-law and last year our first grandbaby! While these didn’t add to the size of our household, the impact is seen in other ways. The dinner table is considerably more crowded when everyone shows up for a meal, and if we go out to eat, we require something more than a table for two. No doubt we’ll soon have to start making reservations in order to guarantee seating for everyone.

This past week, we welcomed the latest addition to the family, our second grandchild! If history is any indication, the future likely holds more of the same, to which I’m gladly looking forward. I have this curious desire to see how big the family can become. Will we need to rent a convention center or some such building just to have a family meal together? Alright, maybe not, but who knows? A lot can happen in 25 years.

Bruce A. Borders, author and songwriter has over 500 songs and 9 books. Over My Dead Body, his latest ebook, is available on Apple I-Pad®, Amazon Kindle®, Barnes & Noble Nook® and Sony Reader®. For more information, visit http://www.bruceaborders.com or http://overmydeadbody.jimdo.com.