07:15The Joy of WalkingFaiza ElmasryJune Soh Vienna, Virginia
You want to go for a walk? Okay, just a minute. Okay.
My name is Amy Jones and I'm a retired teacher and have lived here in Vienna for 22 years which seems like a long time.
Lucky, Lucky. Come here. Come here. Come on. Stand up. Stand up.
This is Lucky. He's six. He's part of the family.
Come on. Oh, what a good kitty! Here you are. I don't know where the other one is.
And I live here with my husband and two cats.
Sit. Look at me. Go!
Lucky is a great companion. He's super friendly. He loves everybody. He's a terrible guard dog.
During the pandemic, I've gotten into some new habits.
So I've been working at home and I try to take two breaks during the day. So I go out and I do a quick walk around the neighborhood just to get a change of scenery.
Come on pup. Here you go.
But in the afternoons, Lucky and I’d go really consistently at 4:00, 4:30 after work is over, after school is over. And we have been going on some longer and longer walks. And I got thinking that I should really explore Vienna.
So I went to the town hall which is just up the street and I asked if they had a map. And they gave me a big map of Vienna with all the streets. And I decided that Lucky and I were going to walk every street in the town so I could kind of get to know it.
Oh boy, this might be slippery. I don't know, you want to try it, Lucky? You want to try it?
One of the things that struck me most about our town is how many, how much access there is to nature within neighborhoods. So you get to the end of a neighborhood or a cul-de-sac and often there would be little trails that would go off from the end of the cul-de-sac and it would end up down by a little stream. And then there would be paths and walking trails at the end of these and I had no idea.
Come on pup. Come on. Ah, look. There’s a friend.
I really enjoyed getting to know my neighbors. I saw them much more frequently than I would had I not been out walking regularly. So I have a neighbor down the street, Patty, who picks up trash every day.
Hey, Patty.
Hi, Amy.
How are you? Oh my gosh! Look at all of that!
I know. It's sad, isn't it?
Wow! Where have you gone?
Just from our house around the block and this far. I haven't even made it to the other side of Church Street yet.
Oh my gosh!
Isn’t that amazing?
Oh, that's awful.
I know.
Oh, I'm so glad you're doing that. Thank you.
Thank you.
All right, see you later.
See you later.
I think walkers just need friendly folk to greet them as they're going. There's one spot that I have gone by a number of times that offers water for dogs, offers first aid kit for walkers and runners. It has cheerful flowers. It has signs greeting you. So that's always encouraging.
Look at that friend. Look at that. Oh, look at that.
Hi.
That's okay. He's so cute.
The other thing that happened, sort of mid-pandemic, was I got a diagnosis of osteoporosis. So bone, you know, bone density challenges and my doctor prescribed medicine. And I just felt I was too young to be having this. And I said, what could I do other than taking the medicine? She said, “Well, you have to walk. You have to run. You have to dance. You have to play tennis. You have to eat differently.” And so the walking is really part of trying to keep healthy and to build bone strength.
Let's see what's here. Let's see what's here. Guitar for Dummies. That's just what I need. Oh, my goodness.
I can clear my mind from work and I feel healthy and I've also gotten to know the town and neighborhoods I've never visited before.
You want to come up here? Let's go. Let's try this. I don't know if you'll like this. Do you want to come up here? Try it. Come on, Lucky. Ha, what a good boy! What a good boy! That’s too scary? No? Let's go down. Let's go down. Oh, okay Lucky. I’m sorry. Is that too scary? A little scary?
Okay, let’s go.
The time capsule is 1990 to 2040, bequeathed by the citizens of Vienna. I have been here so many times. I've never read that sign or seen that. Wow, that's interesting. Come on.
In my work with students as a teacher, I have read how important it is to get outside for children and how important natural light is for learning and for mental health. And I think it's true for everyone. I think to connect with nature is something that I have, I really re-discovered as I was out walking.
Wow, this is lavender, I think. Umm. Lucky, do you like lavender?