April 4, 2012: Pre-walk 1

Pizza and Ice Cream at the End of the Road

“And he’s off!” Judy says that morning. Pre-walk 1 focuses on the road Nathaniel took for his first “official” part-time jobs in life: Dairy Queen & Nino’s Pizza, both located in Dilworthtown Plaza, southwest of Cheyney, a mere 10-mile walk round-trip. What a beautiful spring day. With each step I take, I quickly sink into a reverie (perhaps more like a Buddhist Monkey-Mind attack), while still paying attention to the speeding cars that just love the roller-coaster ride down this all-too-narrow, I-think-I’m-still-a-country-road cow path. My first profound thought, if I dare call it that, is more of a Quaker Query/Question: “Does the road still hold the memory of Nathaniel’s footsteps of that cold January 23, 2003 day when he ran to Diary Queen to have his first job interview?” How much had Nathaniel’s footsteps that morning pounded some element of his physical being into the macadam? Staring down at the tar, I think I can see, on a metaphysical level, the remnants of his run. Little imbedded stones significantly altered on a molecular level. I like to believe that on the purely Quantum-Physics level, some significant disturbance occurred from this tall, handsome, energetic, eager young man’s passing. Yeah, yeah, I know, it’s been resurfaced since then… but here I am, his dad, 9 years later walking the same road. That thought makes me walk in deeper appreciation for my lighter steps today that follow his, as will all those taken during this entire pilgrimage. And what’s the reward at the end of the road for having one profound thought? You guessed it! Pizza at Nino’s and ice cream at Dairy Queen. My favorites.