posted by Sandy Fails 0 comments

On that short walk, I traded weather commentary with Sammy the school crossing guard, watched a dad piggyback his curly-haired daughter and her hot pink mini-backpack into Stepping Stones Children's Center, and kept my dog close beside me while negotiating Eighth Street – a.k.a. "the Mommy 500" for the minivan projectiles hurtling toward the school right before the bell rings. My informal count indicated that every car licensed in the East River Valley passed through the intersection of Seventh, Red Lady and the highway – twice – in a 20-minute period.

Having duly cleaned up after my dog's uptown morning constitutional, I dropped the bag gingerly in the trash can when I got back home, hoping for the sake of the trash guys that air temperatures would stay below freezing until they did their afternoon pick-up. If we're still living here in the spring when the bears wake up and come garbage shopping, our odoriferous trash receptacle might be deterrent enough for the whole neighborhood.

We townies can walk most places, meaning fewer snowy hours spent digging out tires, scraping windshields and saying little prayers to the God of Ignition before turning the car key on sub-zero mornings. Of course, we do have to start the car to move it to the correct side of the street… after figuring out which side that is. Three parking tickets later, my family has devised a code for the puzzling winter parking regs: Saturday and Sunday = Stepping Stones side of the street.

By walking, we become part of the weave of the town: nodding to neighbors and visitors, noticing the snowy bouffants on the cool old buildings, and pausing to take group photos for laughing tourists. Seasoned townies negotiate icy sidewalks with well-honed geisha steps, and arrive at cross-town destinations wearing enough layers to fill a walk-in closet, and know exactly what second they have to leave home to stride to the bus stop just as the bus is pulling up.

In six weeks or so we’ll settle back into our reconstructed home a few miles outside of town. Until then, I'll enjoy being part of the rhythm of living in this pretty, funny, quirky little town.