WITHERING AWAY

As I approach 130 days of walking at least 10 miles per day (yikes), I’ve noticed the decay all around. Mostly wooden decks. The type of decks built onto houses. I notice them, and they’re beat up, falling apart, faded. And I think about when they were built, and how enthused the families must have been. The outdoor meals they’d have, the friends they’d host. I think about this too with the basketball hoops in the drive ways. The ones that are rusting away, the nets falling apart from multiple years of storms and snow. These basketball hoops were once the best thing ever for the kids. Put together by the parents, who then watched from the kitchen window the local kids come by to shoot hoops. Cars, too. Trucks. Broken down, sitting next to the garage with grass growing under the fenders, rust on the roof, windows glazed over. At one point that vehicle was someone’s pride and joy. Someone saved up, or got a car loan, and they were so stoked to have that car. Lots of walking, lots of…