Walking man...

There is a man who walks here in my town. I see him every day without fail. He walks and he walks and he walks. He is very tall...he looks kind of like a lumberjack. He walks along the same route every day all hunched over in his flannel zip up shirt and big boots...his big arms swinging at his side. He has a full red beard and lots of thick red hair and I am curious about him. I have asked around and everyone just says the same thing "Oh, you mean Crazy Walker Man". Yep, Crazy Walker Man...that no one knows ANYTHING about. Now, I am not too concerned about Crazy Walker Man because he obviously gets decent meals because he is HUGE and it takes a lot of calories to sustain all that weight while doing all that walking. He also looks pretty clean so he must have somewhere to cleanse himself.

When I first moved to the town I always thought he was just walking to the bus stop each morning and our schedules just coincided...not the case. No matter what time I travel down that road Crazy Walking Man is walking either to or from the bus stop area...swinging his arms, head down...just walking.

I wonder a lot about Crazy Walking Man...I mean, is he actually crazy...probably to some degree. I mean it is a rare person who can entertain themself all day just walking the same stretch of land day after day after day. I actually envy him a little bit. Can you imagine having so little on your plate (and your mind for that matter)that you could just be satified walking? I mean, it would save you the headache of making plans, right? Crazy Walking Man goes to bed each night, physically tired, knowing exactly what his next day entails...the only variable is whether he should carry his big black and white golf umbrella with him or not. I would love to know more about him, but truth be told, he scares me a little bit. He is VERY large. I know this because I ran into him one day.

I was getting #2 and #3 out of the van to take #2 into school and Crazy Walking Man was coming up the alley pulling a wagon (a rare addition to his stroll...I decided he was headed to the food back which is right behind the school...leads me to believe that he is economically challenged...or maybe he just likes to pull a wagon). Anyway, I turned around too quickly and ran into him...RIGHT into him. I was startled. He is a LARGE man. My head barely came to his chest and I was in my biggest boots...probably making me close to 5'4". He just grunted and continued on. He didn't say excuse me or give me a response to my "Oh, I am sorry"...he just grunted. So, does crazy walking man talk? I don't know...this is just one of the many questions that plague me when I see Crazy Walking Man walking.

I think most towns have a person similar to Crazy Walking Man. When I lived at home with my parents there we had "Crazy John"...He was thin, bald and carried his belongings on his back in a hiker's backpack complete with a tent. I think Crazy John was resourceful. That man walked FAR...he didn't have a strict route like Crazy Walking Man. You would see him all around...in many many different towns. And depending on who you talked to you would hear a different story. Some people said he was a Vietnam vet who lost his mind...some would say he was a filthy rich man who never went in his house, but rather set up his tent in his backyard each night. Who knows, but when I go home to visit my mom and dad I still see Crazy John walking. He will probably live forever walking as much as he does.

When Dave went to law school we lived in a different town and there was a walking man there, but he was clearly homeless. He never shaved, frequently smelled bad and carried a lot of newspapers...Probably to cover with at night. I bought him a pair of pants once...actually I didn't buy them, but just gave him a pair of Dave's unused pants. He never said a word to me. He just took them and stuck them under his arm with his newspaper...I saw him wearing them later. It made me happy.

Anyway, I could go on and on about Crazy Walking Man...there is no real story here except that crazy walking man occupies my thoughts...and prayers, actually...because I just don't know anything about him. I can only hope that at the end of the day when he gets wherever it is that he is going that there is someone there who cares about him.