Brazil sometimes love must move away

A man describes a lifelong practice of taking long walks as a way to express love and cope with difficult emotions. He first felt this urge in his twenties, when he walked several miles to visit the woman he would later marry, instead of driving. He says he wanted to show her she was worth the effort and that tenderness often needs to move through the body before it can reach another person.

He regularly walks to his parents’ home, about five miles away. The journey helps him arrive fully present and grateful to see them. He once walked to a baseball card store and back to buy a card of Brooks Robinson, a Hall of Fame player who wore the same jersey number as his son. He felt a journey was the right way to honor the connection.

On another occasion, overwhelmed by work stress, he walked fourteen miles to the beach. He did not tell anyone. By the time he reached the ocean, the tension had left him. He describes these walks as a way to transfer something from the inside to the outside, a physical way to show that a person or a challenge matters.

Years later, his daughter went through a difficult period. He and his wife tried everything they could to help. Feeling helpless, he laced up his sneakers and walked west. He passed bus stops, plazas, and vacant lots. He kept going until the sidewalks ended and the land became wild. It was cold for South Florida, but he continued until he reached a fence at the edge of the Everglades.

Standing there, with sawgrass stretching to the horizon and an endless sky above, he let himself want his daughter to be okay. He stood for a long time, then walked home. When he returned, the temperature had dropped into the thirties. He went to his backyard pool and stayed in the cold water, thinking of her.

He does not know if the walk or the cold water helped her, though she is doing better now. He says he now understands what he has been doing all these years. When love builds up inside, it needs to move. He says he pours himself out in the direction of the ones he loves until he is spent.

He has learned that people cannot always change things for those they care about. Walking is how he works through what he cannot resolve. It allows him to be more available and grounded for his loved ones. He says he recognized the feeling when he saw a television character walk into the wilderness for his daughter. It was a familiar act. Neither of them had a better option, and neither needed one. He walked to the edge of the Everglades for his daughter, and the character walked into the wilderness for his. He concludes that people do not always have the answers, but they have love, and they find ways to express it.