The weather cleared out in the afternoon with fresh air and clear skies that beckoned me outside.  It felt like time for a walk; I glanced over at my friend and asked if he’d like to join me.  His eyes sparkled and he made it to the door before me.

Sometimes you need to walk with a friend.  Sometimes they need to walk with you.  Sometimes you need each other. And, sometimes, you just need to walk; this was one of those times.

Our pace was leisurely that day.  My friend often liked to walk a bit faster than me and typically would wander off the path more often than me and without notice; but this was not one of those days.  My friend was content to walk by my side.

When you walk, especially in the countryside, it’s not unusual to come across wildlife.  My friend was  a hunter by nature and was especially fascinated by birds.  So our walks were full of opportunity and that day was no different.  There they were, a large flock of turkeys out for a late afternoon stroll as well.   My friend spotted them, glanced at me with a smile and then returned his intent gaze to the turkeys; he stared at them like a statue for the longest time and, strangely it seemed to me, didn’t express his usual keen interest in hunting them down.  Perhaps he realized that those turkeys deserved a pleasant walk in the woods too….

After our bird break, we resumed our walk and enjoyed the quiet company of each other, every step of the way.  While my friend’s quiet response on this day was different, I didn’t think much more about it during our walk.  Little did I know that this would be the last time we would walk together.  Three days later my friend crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

I recently finished reading “Freedom” by Sebastian Junger; it’s a wonderful book about a 400 mile walk in search of “freedom” and he said a great deal about how a walk with a friend can change your perspective of what freedom actually is – and what it is not.  This quote resonated with me:

“The things that had to happen out there were so clear and simple—eat, walk, hide, sleep—that just getting through the day felt like scripture: a true and honest accounting of everything that underlies the frantic performance of life.”

Sebastian Junger

That walk with a friend was, in retrospect, like scripture.  My friend approached each day and every walk with happiness for what it was – “a true and honest accounting” of what it meant to be alive in that moment and to enjoy it together.

When a friend asks you to take a walk, don’t pass up the opportunity.

Tempus Maximize!

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