What Did I Do? by Joyce Keinitz

Introduction: We have made many friends along the way that share our love of walking. In celebration of Walking Connection's 25th anniversary, we are featuring some of the people that we have met that have inspired us to keep on walkin'. The following was written in 2000 by one of our heroes! There are some people that cross your life's path that you can never forget... 

What Did I Do? It was April Fool’s Day. I started my walk at an altitude of 250 meters.  My destination seemed so very far away. And what were those little black dots?  What was that grayish mass? 

Was I really up for this challenge? I wasn’t sure, but I kept moving, putting one foot in front of the other.  I had to keep my eyes down to avoid tripping over the quartz and serpentine stones scattered everywhere. 

Soon, icy blue shapes came into focus.  They were bigger than I thought.  And the black dots became people.  As I drew closer, I saw water trickling down everywhere, creating new shapes as it went towards the stream bed. 

I didn’t want the group to stop and wait for me, so I followed directly behind our guide.   As she cut new steps into the ice with her axe, I climbed, sometimes holding the rope for dear life, and lifting myself with the walking stick.  The steps were at least 1/3 of my height. 

There was a man resting alongside the trail who the guide said, was a hermit who lived in a cave.  Sometimes he helped the guides clean up the trails.  We said “hello” and moved on, climbing at a slow pace. 

Finally, I knew I could not go on.  I told the guide that this was all I could do.  She looked at me and laughed, saying: “That’s all your group is going to do.  We’re going back down now.” 

Very carefully, we descended from our lofty plateau, placing our feet in newly chopped ice.  It was very slippery. Finally, we reached level ground again. The outing took approximately three hours. I was elated. I wasn’t sure I had the stamina...

But I did it. 

What Did I Do? Why, I climbed 70 meters on the Franz Josef Glacier in the South Island of New Zealand.

P.S. April Fool’s! Our guide did it to us. Remember the hermit? Well, he was actually one of the regular guides. He didn’t live in a cave.                 

More to the story: Joyce Keinitz is my hero. Diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1994 at the age of 55, she was determined not to let that slow her down. With a twinkle in her eye she set out on many adventures with the Walking Connection. 

In the year 2000 she traveled with me to New Zealand. Three days before we left she had a chemo treatment. Though one of the many side affects is fatigue, as you can see by her story, that did not stop her from living life to the fullest and challenging herself.  

Sadly Joyce lost her battle with cancer in October of 2001. Though many years have past, when I think of Joyce on top of that glacier, I miss her positive spirit that still makes me smile... 

"Don't cry when the sun is gone, 

because the tears won't let you see the stars." ~ Violetta Parra

Seeing Red in New Zealand

(In celebrating the Walking Connection's 25th year we are featuring some of the people we have met along the way that share our love for walking. This is the first in a series. Enjoy!)

John Dwyer is from Wellington New Zealand. He found us on the internet around the year 2000. In those days we had a membership that included a red T-shirt. John a keen walker, wore his proudly.

He has kept in touch over the years and always participates in our annual World Wide Walk. Though communication is much easier now with e-mail and Facebook, in the beginning he hand wrote letters to Gene and I about his walking adventures.

Here is one of those wonderful letters we received in February 2004:

Hello Gene and Jo Ann, 

A couple of weeks ago I went on holiday with my Sister and her family for a three day trip into the forest near Rotorua. While attending to our forest accommodation fees, a staff member at the Tauranga Department of Conservation, who are in charge of our forests here in New Zealand, tapped on my back and said... 

"Ah!! a well known overseas walking group this"!! He had seen the two boots that were printed on the back of your T shirt. Turns out he took your group for a hike when you were last here. 

Also he had worked in the same forest near where I had lived and worked. I had worked part time  planting pine trees and  have visited there since whenever I return to my old home town area.Of course the conversation was also about "The Walking Connection", so although you may have only been here once, your T shirt bought alive someone else's memory of you previous visit. 

John on the trail in January, 2004
"My red Walking Connection T shirt, a high visible object, on our walk."

Our two day hike in the Whirinaki forest, was great, alongside a river, in Native forest, with three steep rock gorges, a large waterfall and a limestone cave to explore as well. The 26 km hike, with a overnight stay in a forest cabin, of bunks, candles, sink and table, was a very peaceful place to rest for the night. Being next to the river and being able to see some blue ducks which are native to the forest, early in the morning, was a high light. 

We camped the 2nd night by a waterfall, and swam in its pool and its flow was a great back massage, when you backed up to it. It was cold water, however we were very much in need of a shower after hiking for two days in the forest.!! This  had a  very basic camp ground of a toilet  and somewhere to camp on. How we slept that night!! 

Next day we went back into the forest for a three hour walk to a fresh water lagoon, where there were ducks and frogs among the native trees, growing in the lagoon edges. The walk in warm sweaty conditions was well worth the effort. Summer time here in January. 

My red Walking Connection T shirt, a high visible object, on our walk.

Happy walking,
Bye for now,
John Dwyer

John still walking in New Zealand, May 2015

It really is a Small World!

"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