Walking Sticks

In the last few years I seem to be vertically challenged. Oh not the way you think. I can't always maintain my equilibrium without staggering and clutching at things as I walk. Talk about hard on my dignity!! I considered a cane. Someone suggested a walker. I'm not ready for that yet, I thought! Then someone else suggested getting two walking sticks and using them to help stabilize me, sort of like two extra legs, while enabling me to get more long walks in! Ah, now this sounded like something I could handle. Off I went on an expedition to find said poles without breaking my budget. After some looking and talking to a friend who uses them (and she's much younger than me!) I finally found some, in a local hardware store, for a third of the price that the specialized sporting goods stores were prepared to sell them for. My first stroke of good luck. The second was in encountering someone else who uses these sticks for walking. He was the employee in the hardware store who sold them to me. He gave me some valuable tips on how to adjust the height for me, how to hold them and swing them. Away home I came full of enthusiasm. However, three days passed. Each day there was a reason why I couldn't (legitimate of course!!) go out and start using them. Finally, I couldn't stall any more so I took a deep breath and plunged outside my apartment. The first two people I met -a couple of my neighbours - said 'oh, are you practising up to go skiing?' Hmmm I thought, I never expected that response! Next at the flower shop, the owner referred to them as canes. I was most affronted. At least for five minutes or so. These responses kind of threw me off balance (oh, not literally, but figuratively) so I came home and plunked them down. There they stayed for two or three more days! Not one to give up a challenge easily, (not for nothing do I have this stubborn Irish streak!) I gathered up my courage and off I went again. The day was hot and I worked up a sweat, but you know, I walked confidently - for three kilometres for the first time in a long while. I think I'm getting the hang of this. It feels great to have this opportunity again. No longer will I consider walking a right, but a privilege that has been given back to me! I'll write more here about my walking adventures with my two extra legs - from time to time....