"Fernweh" (n.): an ache for distant places

photo credit: Micki Clay

My ultimate favorite place to be is on safari in Africa, period.

Though we recently returned from a month long journey in Tanzania, 

I am longing to be back on the Serengeti...

photo credit: Micki Clay

I miss the adventure of setting out from our mobile camp to find where the migration is headed. Seeing a line of dots on the horizon and in moments being completely surrounded by masses of wildebeest, zebra and gazelle.

I crave the seemingly subtleness of Lamai
sitting high among the kopje with the tall grasses softening the horizon. 

What is out there today? I wonder. 

Looking towards the Mara River, hippos look back at me.

photo credit: Joanne Young

I yearn for the new day at Greystoke Mahale curious where the chimps will be. 

Around the corner or up the densely forested mountain? 

Either way I am ready and willing to do the trek. The payoff is worth the wait...
and the walk.

photo credit: Gene Taylor

And then as light fades on a day filled with nature's gifts, 

looking across Lake Tanganyika the sun sets over the Congo.

photo credit: Gene Taylor

A memory of a blue lantern with gentle light soothes my spirit 

and draws me into my dreams.

photo credit: Gene Taylor

Good night Africa...I'll be back

"Fernweh" is a German word with no English translation for it. It is basically the opposite of homesickness (Heimweh): when you feel like you have to leave your familiar surroundings to discover new places. It is the need for distance, the wish to experience something far away from home, the urge to escape from your everyday life by travelling

my MOM

My MOM just turned 90. On her birthday I took her for a 5 minute walk 30 feet down the hall. At 72 she walked all 26.2 miles at the Anchorage marathon as Gene, Dad and I cheered her on at the finish line.

My MOM doesn't know who I am anymore. She has Alzheimer's....

My MOM was my best friend, confidant, adviser, sidekick, cheerleader, sounding board, nurturer, therapist and sometimes critic. Now I am a stranger.

My MOM remembered EVERYTHING. Sometimes I felt she knew too much about me and my life. Now I just wish she knew who I was...

On a cool November day way back in 1999 I knew something was not right... 

                             she slipped away...a little piece at a time...for 15 years.

In her last week she looked at me softly without confusion and played with my hair. She held my hand tightly. I had missed her for a really long time, but for a moment my MOM was back.

My MOM passed away a year ago on March 26th, 2014.

Love you MOM -  I bring you with me wherever I go.

UNSTUCK

Have you ever been stuck?

Stuck in a rut. Stuck in the middle. Stuck like glue.

Well -- I have...To be stuck is to be static, motionless, immobile, inactive, still...I can't think, can't write or don't wanna walk...

I get stuck in different ways, at different times and all for different reasons; life distractions, lack of information, boredom, overwhelmed, frustration, fear or just NOTHING IS WORKING

When I've reached an impasse, I've learned that it's time to STOP, change my approach and look a little deeper.  

Sometimes it might be as simple as finding a positive mantra to play over in my head. My latest replay is,"She BELIEVED she could so she did."

Strong and confident words that help me push through what ever the road block may be...this time. It might not work forever, but for now I'm UNSTUCK so I'm keepin' it! 

Come Walk With Me!

Backward, turn backward...

I always think of the first few lines of this poem on Christmas Eve, wanting to capture the wonder of being a child again.  I never knew the rest of the verse... 

Being that I lost my mom several years ago, while reading it my sadness seeps in. Yet in some way I also find it soothing as if it could rock me to sleep...

Rock Me to Sleep

BY ELIZABETH AKERS ALLEN

Backward, turn backward, O Time, in your flight,

Make me a child again just for tonight!

Mother, come back from the echoless shore,

Take me again to your heart as of yore;

Kiss from my forehead the furrows of care,

Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair;

Over my slumbers your loving watch keep;—      

Rock me to sleep, mother, – rock me to sleep!

Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years!

I am so weary of toil and of tears,—      

Toil without recompense, tears all in vain,—   

Take them, and give me my childhood again!

I have grown weary of dust and decay,—   

Weary of flinging my soul-wealth away;

Weary of sowing for others to reap;—   

Rock me to sleep, mother – rock me to sleep!

Tired of the hollow, the base, the untrue,

Mother, O mother, my heart calls for you!

Many a summer the grass has grown green,

Blossomed and faded, our faces between:

Yet, with strong yearning and passionate pain,

Long I tonight for your presence again.

Come from the silence so long and so deep;—   

Rock me to sleep, mother, – rock me to sleep!

Over my heart, in the days that are flown,

No love like mother-love ever has shone;

No other worship abides and endures,—      

Faithful, unselfish, and patient like yours:

None like a mother can charm away pain

From the sick soul and the world-weary brain.

Slumber’s soft calms o’er my heavy lids creep;—      

Rock me to sleep, mother, – rock me to sleep!

Come, let your brown hair, just lighted with gold,

Fall on your shoulders again as of old;

Let it drop over my forehead tonight,

Shading my faint eyes away from the light;

For with its sunny-edged shadows once more

Haply will throng the sweet visions of yore;

Lovingly, softly, its bright billows sweep;—   

Rock me to sleep, mother, – rock me to sleep!

Mother, dear mother, the years have been long

Since I last listened your lullaby song:

Sing, then, and unto my soul it shall seem

Womanhood’s years have been only a dream.

Clasped to your heart in a loving embrace,

With your light lashes just sweeping my face,

Never hereafter to wake or to weep;—      

Rock me to sleep, mother, – rock me to sleep!

Rock me to sleep, MOM, -- rock me to sleep!

This Is About You!

This is not about me...it's about YOU.  It's simple and it's easy. You can do it...I know you can. The best thing about it is that it will take only 10 minutes. Everybody can find 10 minutes... 

      

A World Wide Walk is about you doing something for YOU. You deserve it. You deserve to take a little bit of "you time" and do something good for yourself!   

I walk every day for me. Sometimes I don't feel like it but I do it anyway. Sometimes I'm too busy, but I do it anyway. Sometimes I'm too tired, but I do it anyway. I do it for me...

Every November 1st I complete another year of walking every day in a row. (2014 was my 5th year)  To celebrate the wonders of walking, I am personally inviting my friends around the world to go for a walk (run, bike, swim) all you have to do is be active for 10 minutes on each November 1st. 

Anywhere, Any place, Any time. 

It doesn't have to be far or fast, just a walk with purpose. 

Just a walk for YOU.  

World Wide Walk details here. If you are "IN" let me know where you are walking by e-mail or on the Facebook event page. Send photos! 

  

I would love to see a piece of your world...

Have A Great Walk

Make Today Confident!

Going through the Sunday paper I spotted an ad that shouted out,  "MAKE TODAY CONFIDENT."  I paused and then repeated it to myself.  Just reading those words gave me a hold my head up, stand up straight and walk tall kind of a feeling. Yes, today I am confident and I can accomplish anything! 

I set out for my walk that day without a set plan, but with a positive attitude.  Before I knew it I had walked an hour up one hill, and then another and another and... 

 

 

 

Later when I sat at my desk with a long list of daunting tasks that I didn't want to do, I thought "make today confident!"  I sat up straight and tackled an item on that list, and then another and another and...
 

By making today confident you believe in yourself. You trust that you can walk that extra mile, hike that tough trail and accomplish your goals. Determination sets in. With confidence you can do things that you might not have even tried.  An "I'm not sure" turns into a "yes I can!"  I am now making each day confident and have learned that a little bit of confidence can go a long way...

 

"Yes I Can!"

 

 

 

Twenty Five Years And Still Walking

This is Walking Connection's 25th year of not just talking the talk but walking the walk!!! It was 1989, I had been working in a marketing job for Nike. Gene was directing major conventions across the country... but we wanted something more. 
  

We wanted to do good. We needed to do something that would directly impact people in  a positive way to help them live a healthy and active lifestyle. Walking was the vehicle...          

 

Our business model has evolved many times over. Obstacles have gotten in the way that we have had to either climb over, go around, detour or push through. But one thing has remained consistent, you can't get anywhere without putting one foot in front of the other. (Whether you feel like it or not)        

As I contemplate 25 years as an entrepreneur and my own personal quest to stay active and fit here are 10 things I've learned along the way: 

• Always be in training, you never know when you will have to keep up, lift up, hike up or run for help.
• Stretch your body, stretch your mind. Both are equally important
• It IS possible to walk every day, even if it is only for 10 minutes.
• The best way to understand geography is to travel.
• If you don't step forward you are always in the same place 
• Listen because everyone has a story
• You can't experience the world through a piece of glass, you gotta get out and walk.
• If you don't ask the answer is always no.
• The WORLD is our culture.

You've got 3 choices in life: give up, give in or give it all you got.