Today

When I was a kid, one of my deepest dissapointments was that I lived in a small town with no sidewalks. What kind of town has no sidewalks? When I was nine we moved to a city. Sidewalks galore. I was ecstatic.

Since then, I don't think I've been all that excited about walking places. It doesn't bother me, but why walk when you can ride? Lately though, I've been going stir crazy. I guess other people are too, because it's still quite chilly out and I saw a lot of people on my way to the coffee shop.

I really like walking in the city. Obviously the best part would be the sidewalks, but there's also so much to see. Store displays, 100 years of architecture, the atrocities people commit with aluminum siding.

Today I took a different route and noticed a church very similar to the one I went to as a kid. I loved that building - it was old and amazing. There was a big deal when we bought it because it had belonged to Methodists. As if the building would somehow taint us with thier theology. I was seven. I only cared that there was a great courtyard to play in and that it's downtown location lent itself to sitting on the doorsteps and handing out free lunches.

Walking past all those houses always makes me wonder about the people inside them. I'm not a people person, I probably wouldn't like the people if I met them, but I can't help wondering about them anyway. Curse of being a story lover - I always think other people's lives are more interesting than my own.

And now I'm back at "my" house and feeling much better for having spent a good part of the day outside.