When Boy#1 started kindergarten, I took it upon myself to walk him to school. Back then I still went into work every day so I would push my bike along as we walked and talked. Once he was safely deposited, I would hop on my bike and ride the rest of the way to work. I quickly realized that walking with him was time well spent. I don’t think the boy missed any days of school that year so, apart from a handful of days when my wife decided it was too rainy to walk or I was sick, he and I walked to school together every day that year. It was great.
The next year we continued walking together rain or shine to the school every day. It certainly wasn’t always what could be considered “quality” time, but day after day, week after week, month after month certainly added up to “quantity” time. It was great.
Then Boy#2 came of age and so the three of us walked together. Some days we’d race. Some days we’d walk backwards or skip or gallop of hop for stretches of the route. Some days the wind and rain were such that I worried the kids would get too wet. Some days we just walked and talked. It was great.
Then one summer we moved–it wasn’t very far, but it did significantly change the walking route to the school. Other people saw the good thing we had going and soon we had a few other children joining us on the walk. There were a few days when we had every grade K-6 represented in our little group. This changed the group dynamic significantly and it was interesting to see how the kids of different ages interacted together. It was great.
Eventually Boy#3 came of age and joined the herd. By this time Boy#1 was participating in some early morning activities at school and so he didn’t walk with us every day, but there were still days when I was walking with my three sons along with other kids from the neighborhood. The next year, Boy#1 moved on to middle school so he took the bus instead of walking. Two years after that Boy#2 joined him, but that same year the Girl Child started kindergarten. I watched my children grow as I walked with them each day. It was great.
Over the years, certain reoccurring themes developed. These include “The Great Tennis Court Race” and the dancing hill. In our version of “button, button, who’s got the button” we race to hit crosswalk signal button. We were chased by [imaginary] wolves across the [also imaginary] frozen tundra and engaged in “slug bug” vs “punch buggy” debates and battles. We avoided stepping on cracks except for when we could only step on cracks. It was great.
This past school year–the Girl Child’s last year of elementary school–we continued walking every day. For the first part it was just me and her and then a younger girl joined us for the balance the daily journey. Things were going great until suddenly and unexpectedly things changed due to covid-19 and kids stopped going to school. I miss the chatter of children. I miss warming to the day by walking. I miss the pattern, the habit, the routine. I miss the time spent together.
Today would have been the last day of school for my daughter, so we walked to the elementary school together one final time. While the rest of the family slept, she and I walked the familiar route and engaged in pleasant conversation. We reached the empty school, took a couple of pictures, and then walked home together while planning activities for the summer. It was great.
