The Phases of Life

Walking
At night my guy and I would walk for blocks catching up on our days. He works 30 hours a week and is a full time student the same as I. We choose to walk away all of our troubles, communicating to one another, in ways that only walking can cure. Although we walk my guy hates it, he says, “I feel like I’m getting no where.” I often explain you’re getting somewhere with me. Once we walked in circles for blocks, our first date we walked, our second date we walked. Walking with us leads to talking and within those conversations great expression and growth comes. One late evening he and I set out on a random walk, his family was having a gathering and just to get away we set out on a journey. The skyline was orange and reddish, beautiful in unimaginable ways. On this particular walk there was very little conversation, he was holding my hand firmly, as I looked up to ask what was wrong, the flashing lights stop us in our tracks. It was a police car patrolling his neighborhood. That evening we never spoke one word, nothing of significance. That too was our last walk and now almost six months later we still do not walk, or talk they way we only could during our walks.

Eating
My nephew is 4 years old. When he was a baby I taught him how to walk and talk and eat. Over the course of his fours of living I taught him all the basics. My nephew Sir goes to preschool for a week and those children manage to undo four years of learning to eat, speak, and walk correctly. Its funny how children can learn to eat at home with manners then go to a different environment filled with peers and change there behavior entirely. “Sir, wipe your face.” “Sir Benjamin Carter, wipe your face!” In this instance my nephew is trying my patience and about to lose some of his privileges. He still does not wipe his face, which is covered in barbeque sauce from his chicken. I physically walk over to him and wipe his face for him. As I kneel down to explain the importance of table manners he turns to me and demonstrates wiping his face. At that moment I could do nothing but smile. He is after all my angel, the one I taught to talk, walk, and eat.

Talking
My best friend Mia, never spoken on the phone, she would text message and email but never call. One day I asked her why she didn’t like to speak on the phone. Mia’s response because my ear gets sweaty, we laughed until it hurt. I told her to try Bluetooth’s, it would allow you to talk for hours and not get a sweaty ear. The next day she picked me up and we walked into Verizon Wireless, she asked for a Bluetooth from one of the sales representatives. The guy who looked old enough to be her dad said, “Right this way pretty lady’s, come over here and let me show you mine.” We looked at one another in utter disgust trying not to laugh. After it was all said and done the Bluetooth Mia wanted was one hundred an twenty dollars. Mia said, “My ear can sweat a lifetime before I get a Bluetooth.” She and I walked down the mall, laugh, talking. We stopped at hotdog on a stick to see my cousin. She gave us our lemonade and cheese on a stick and we strolled some more. Mia and I walked, talked, and ate. We finally came full circle to the Verizon store and she walked in grabbed the Bluetooth, paid and walked out. I stood outside laughing and gesturing to her ear, asking if our walked cause her ear to sweat a lifetime.