Outside the Comfort Zone

Today I walked home.

Not that it’s weird to walk home. I’ve just never walked home from the car dealer that seems so far away on the other side of town. I plugged in our address and it was a 2.6 mile walk. I had my fitbit and thought it would be great to actually walk instead of sitting and waiting for a ride or inconveniencing a friend to come and pick me up. And it was so sunny and beautiful out; a perfect day for a stroll.

So I walked up the El Camino.

If I was in Amsterdam, I wouldn’t think twice about walking this distance. But for some reason, it felt so far away and people just don’t walk up this street. Isn’t that weird? I walk through my neighborhood and walk with friends and hike more than double that distance, but this just felt different.

At first I felt weird, walking by myself. But then I started to have fun.

I noticed the lady sitting in the grass, reading the paper waiting for her car to be repaired. There was a young mama pushing her toddler on a push bike through the intersection and another young boy casually taking his time, walking slowly as the light turned red and stopping traffic. A bus had to slow to pass a bicyclist who had no idea there was a bus right behind him.

And then I noticed the wishing flowers and made wishes. This made me giggle.

There is an old cherry stand that I’ve always wanted to visit, but never have in the 15 years I’ve lived in Silicon Valley. As I walked past, I turned around and went in.

It was so cute and filled with great items to fill gift baskets and wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables.i bought fresh produce to make a salad for lunch and put it in my backpack.

I talked on the phone with my sister, and enjoyed the journey from a different perspective.

On the last part of my walk, I even heard chickens clucking in someone’s yard, that I would have never noticed from the car. I also noticed the cherry blossoms blooming and little petals falling.