The Other Side Of Walking For Exercise

It's amazing what you see walking down the street.  I love coming up with stories that could apply to what I accidentally view. Not necessarily people and their antics (don't get me wrong, those are fascinating too!), just the THINGS that I encounter.  I find it fascinating (yes, I'm that much of a geek), to imagine the stories of how and/or why those random items came to be there. 

Today, I walked past a single sock, a crushed plastic soda bottle, an embellished barrette, and a pile of crushed pottery .... all within about 2 blocks. So random, yet so fascinating.!  How does one lose a single sock on a street? Was it in the floorboard of a car and fell out when a door was opened to let out a passenger? Was the person in idiot mode of inebriation and decided that one of their socks was just not necessary? Did the bottle fall out of the car when entering it, unnoticed, and was run over backing out of the parking lot, or did someone get fed up with the universe and simply chuck it out the window? How does a person lose something attached into their hair style and not realize it? Had they already taken it out, placed it in a pocket or purse and it inadvertently fell on the ground? The pile of crushed pottery was large enough to be higher than the puddle it resided in. Was it put there on purpose to fill in the hole in the alleyway,  or did someone get annoyed, throw it upon the ground and crush it for sanity purposes?

As I walked past a furniture consignment store, I noticed a fantastic iron wine rack shaped like a butler, and a 1950s style ashtray painted in rainbow mosaic. What stories could those pieces tell if only they were able to?

Walking doesn't have to just exercise your body, it can be truly, mentally stimulating!  Sidewalk and store window displays, accidentally discarded belongings, the single flower popping out of the ground on a chilly day, the bird's nest visible in a barren tree ... all are stories in their own right. Take a look. You might be amazed at what you see, in spite of yourself.

~ The Girl In The Little Black Dress