Walk On

Dear DC,

I have found that I really enjoy walking to and from work each day. The short 20 minute walk from home to office really seems to give a boost to my energy level. I don’t have to sit at traffic lights and worry about homeless people trying to sit in my car, or worry about the taxi driver’s lack of driving skills. Instead I get to breathe some fresh air, enjoy all the blossoming trees, and get a little extremely much needed exercise.

I have gotten myself in a routine by walking to work. I try to leave the apartment right at 8:30am, which will get me to work by 8:50am. I walk along Maryland Ave, through the same park on my way to work. With this routine I have found that I am not the only one who has a routine at 8:30am.

Every day I pass the same mother with her 4 children waiting at the bus stop for the X8. The mother, who I like to call the “Nobody Taught Me About Carbs Mother” eating a chicken wing (at 8:37 in the morning), the children eating oversized M&M cookies.

Then there are the two girls who walk onto Maryland Ave from E St. The Bobbsey Twins. One girl is always smoking a cigarette and holding a green plastic cup. Each time I see her I imagine how gross whatever it is that she is drinking tastes right after she takes a puff of the cigarette. I then begin to walk faster than them in order to get ahead of the smell of cigarette smoke.

Once I reach Stanton Square, there is always that same guy, Flood Boy, who is wearing tennis shoes with his suit. The gap between his shoes and suit pants is at least 10 inches, and for some reason he is always carrying an umbrella. Rain or shine. It’s not open, just there.

In the middle of Stanton Square is usually when the Two Bag Girl arrives. I suppose a more fitting name for her would be the Chicken Dance Girl. Because she is walking along with her purse on one shoulder and her gym bag on the other and her hands on the strap of each bag, it causes her arms to flap out with each step that she takes. Luckily I have my ipod with me so I don’t get the chicken dance song stuck in my head.

Then we get to the ultimate routine. Every day, as long as I keep my pace up, in the 400 block of Maryland Ave, I will nearly walk right into the Rav4 Guy. The Rav4 Guy is the guy who comes charging out of his house, opening his squeaky iron gate, and into his silver Toyota Rav4. Before walking through his gate however, he stops to look both ways down the sidewalk as if to be checking to make sure he won’t run into a Segway tour group.

Sometimes I feel like the part of Groundhog Day. The part where Bill Murray is sitting on a park bench counting down each thing that happens because he has lived the same day over and over. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…dog barks, blue truck honks, child cries, Flood Boy walks by.

With Walking Along Love,

Kyle