It has been amazing. I am super slow even people that I consider way more ancient than me glide past me. I walk around looking at all the different trees. The first two days, disgusted by the filth, no doubt home to many a rat, before the third morning when the park staff had made a miracle of the space again. I can identify the trees with my plant app, which I use for my garden, and on two days, I have walked further. Once to deliver keys to my co-worker returning to the office for the first time in 17 months and once on a spontaneous trip to the junction to check out the new Aldis, briefly visit HomeGoods and the 99 cent store, ending up in Target to get some plastic boxes to replace those lost in the flooding that we had with Ida. It was nowhere near as bad as the water some endured.

So I have discovered how much the serenity of the park means to me. When I go back to the office, I will be able to walk that way now. I discovered a lot about my body and about my beingness. I can see myself sitting and writing in this park. I have been able to do this because my neighbor from across the street, on hearing that I had been walking around my garden rather than risk the streets, walked with me last Sunday morning, showing me a route. “When the student is ready, the teacher appears,” so though it has always been my stated intention to walk in the last 9 years I have lived here, it is this small or maybe not so small act of kindness that got me going.

Even a walk in the park is not easy, but there is a kind friend or neighbor to help you on your way every now and then.