“Everywhere
is walking distance
if you have the time.” 
Steven Wright

My home is located in the Santa Clara Valley, in what was once affectionately known as The Valley of Heart’s Delight. The nickname changed following the invention of the microchip. In response to the technology boom of the past fifty years, this once fertile farmland was dubbed Silicon Valley, home to many of the most well-known high-tech companies in the world. 

Life is fast-paced here. It seems that everyone is constantly on the go. Despite a network of highways and expressways, traffic congestion can still be problematic at any time of day. It’s strikingly different than what I experienced when I first moved to this area in 1972.

Gratefully, I am retired now. I still teach one class of creative writing for adults in Santa Clara on Tuesday mornings, and I continue to read and write as often as possible. Other than these commitments, however, my schedule is quite flexible. No longer do I have the excuse that I simply don’t have time to exercise. I have plenty of time now.

This offers me options that were unavailable to me in previous years. I still drive my car fairly often, but I have started to rely increasingly on public transportation and walking. Yesterday I logged more than 11,000 steps! Not surprisingly, I feel much better, both physically and mentally, than I did during my sedentary years.

Walking slows me down, providing ample opportunity for me to consciously notice what’s happening around me. This should come as no surprise to most people. Some of the world’s greatest thinkers and writers have extolled the virtues of walking.

Henry David Thoreau wrote, “Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.” I cannot disagree. When walking, I am constantly recognizing potential topics for my writing.

German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, claimed, “All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.” While the health benefits of physical movement are well-documented, we cannot overlook the many other benefits of a consistent routine of walking, which include reduced stress and increased productivity.

There is a social benefit to leaving one’s car at home, as well. I enjoy walking from my home in West San José to Santana Row, an upscale residential and commercial complex located 2.2 miles from my home. I wrote about this in a recent blog post. Last week, while walking down Winchester Boulevard on my way to Santana Row, I met Manny, a native of the Azores. With broom in hand, he was sweeping leaves away from the gutter to prepare them to be more efficiently picked up by the street sweeper truck when it passed by. I should mention that Manny was not directly outside his home doing this. He lives about 200 yards down the road from where he was doing the sweeping. We had a wonderful conversation, through which I learned that his reason for sweeping the leaves was simply that it was a task that needed to be done.

Yesterday, after enjoying a hot chocolate and cinnamon roll at Cocola in Santana Row, I met Rubé. She was standing near my table. Recognizing that she was considerably older than me (though she assured me that she was considerably younger than God!), I asked if she would like to sit in one of the unused chairs at my table. She graciously accepted. She was waiting for her daughter, Evita, who came along a few minutes later. The two were born in Honduras, but have been living in the United States for many years. We had a delightful conversation.

Then, while walking back home, I met a young couple with a 3-month old baby girl at the intersection of Winchester & Moorpark. José is from Mexico. His wife, Alexa, was born in Nicaragua. I mentioned to them that my youngest grandson isn’t even one month old yet. Before we parted ways, I gave them my business card and invited them to contact me so that I could drop off a copy of Cherries in the Summer for their daughter, Aitziber Rose. They did, indeed, contact me and I delivered the book to their home at 6:45 p.m.

I am tremendously grateful for the opportunity to walk in my neighborhood, to maintain my health, to meet interesting people, to be introduced to various cultures, and to make new friends. People are basically good, but we may never realize this if we stay in our cars and never make the effort to acknowledge and reach out to those around us.