My Tribe: The 4 to 5 o’clock Walkers

OMG! It’s nearly 4pm.  Somehow the day always runs away from me, filled with taking care of mundane things and catching up on chores, emails, etc.  No matter how hard I try,  I always end up at the park at about 4:30 pm., accompanied by my daughter if she happens to be free that day. Today I was solo.

I pull into a parking spot outside the park and walk up the steps to the walking path. It’s a cloudy, cold day so there is almost no one in sight.  Only a few ducks traverse the pond and a few unfamiliar figures walk on the other side of the pond. I’ve now walked around twice and begun to feel a bit lonely and droopy.

Suddenly I see one of our familiar faces.  It’s P.!  He’s a sweet, jaunty older Irish man who walks daily at about the same time we do.  Our eyes meet and he joins me for a few moments to chat. P. is always friendly and always animated…and he can speak on any current events topic…and does…in his lovely Irish brogue.  Recently he and I disagreed about energy sources, he favoring gas and oil. I told him because of climate change I thought it was time to move on to solar and wind energy.  He listened carefully to me,  then explained to me that the short-term life of wind turbine batteries does not make them as useful as they appear to be.  “When the turbines produce excess energy it can’t be stored,” he explained. This was later confirmed by someone else as true. But he did agree with me that solar is really the way to go. Then, he continued on his walk as did I. Here’s P walking the path:

 

Reinvigorated by the appearance of P. I continued to make my way once last around the pond. Three times around is my usual limit.  Sure enough! Coming toward me were two familiar female shapes, bundled up against the wind.  These  two women live near the park and walk together every day they possibly can.  They like to get their chores done early, so have chosen 4:30 as their walking hour.  Today they told me that due to Daylight Savings Time, they were moving their walking time ahead to 5 pm soon. They, too, always stop to chat and exchange pleasantries. One of them is involved in local civic matters, as am I , so there’s always a bit of updating to be shared. They are very vigorous and spirited and are my role models for an active senior life.

One regular, who doesn’t chat,  we first identified last fall. He, too, is a 4:30 walker  who always wears the same off-white corduroy pants.  He is extremely tall, so he sticks out in the clumps of walkers.  Although we don’t chat, he usually gives me a nod and a smile.

Another woman we see there pretty consistently with her dog used to manage a very well known musical venue in our town with her husband.  Since her husband passed away several years ago, she makes a point of coming to the park to exercise her dog and get out to be in touch with people. We always stop to chat and of course to pet her very adorable pooch. She and her dog were not there today.

Of course, there are always other familiar faces whom we haven’t met. Some walk alone, some in pairs.  Seeing them is enough to create a sense of familiarity and community. It is becoming more apparent to me that the park is the real crossroads of the town. We have learned through our frequent walks there that there is an unspoken solidarity amongst walkers and there are definite time slots they prefer.  We are in the 4  to 5 o’clock  afternoon group.  I wonder who else walks in the park at other times of the day?