A little help from a friend

I took advantage of our winter reprieve and went for a walk this afternoon. There was a time when I could have walked the entire perimeter of our small town, but, since I haven’t walked in way too long, I settled for a half mile head-clearing stroll. When I first started, my body rebelled sending pain indicators to my brain. I trudged on and after a bit I lengthened my stride and actually felt pretty good towards the end.
In my early years I didn’t exercise. Preferring instead to try every fad diet I came upon in my quest to lose weight. It was my friend and co-worker at the time, Dora, that urged me to get off my derriere and go for a walk. Dora was larger than I and I figured if she could do it then I should have no problem keeping up. Wrong! That lady nearly walked me into the dirt on our first outing. I remember having to stop only a few blocks from the house to stretch my calves, which felt like they were being squeezed in a pair of vice grips, and were so painful I wanted to cry. Breathe, Dora told me. It gets better, I promise.  No, I moaned, let’s go back home it is shorter. She refused to let me give up, and to this day, I am grateful to her for motivating me and telling me I could do this. Dora was like that, she always looked on the bright side of things and always had a smile on her face. She passed away this week. No-one saw it coming, and according to her brother, she was smiling and laughing right up to the end. During my walk this afternoon when I felt the strain of muscles which hadn’t been used in way too long, I heard Dora’s words as clear in my head as that very first time, “It will get better, I promise.” Her spirit was right, it did, and the rest of the walk I reflected upon our friendship.  I will miss my friend, but I have a feeling we will continue to take walks together from time to time.  

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Dora Lee Gutierrez September 8th 1963 to February 14th 2017    R.I.P my friend, you will be missed. 


#thatswhatfriendsarefor #sayinggoodbye #gonetooearly #alwayssmiling!