Not-So-Earthy Commute

It’s Earth Day…and I unintentionally celebrated by walking to work through the most concrete, asphalt-filled part of town. I had to drop the van off at the shop before I headed to work. The shop’s roughly 4 blocks from campus. The problem with those 4 blocks is that it’s right along Main Street. No trees. No grass. Wall-to-wall storefronts, basically. The highlight? The downtown Cash Express location…with its balloons. I never knew I had it so good…walking through tree-lined neighborhoods, for the most part, every day. I’ll try never to take the natural aesthetics for granted again—not on Earth Day or any other day.

On my drive to the shop I said hello to a couple of fellow walkers who (rightfully) gave me a hard time for not walking myself. They said they’d let me off the hook this once. I’m proud of ‘em. Fellow Walker sightings (to date): 18. At lunchtime I was offered a ride to the house...by my boss...I accepted. Ride Offers (to date): 8.

P.S. My commute did have several litter-removal opportunities, though. I took advantage of one. It was a fairly large blue post-it note…with the phone number for someone named Abby. I found it in the alley behind the downtown drug store. One of these days I’ll explain why I bothered bending over and picking it up.