Stair Steppin’

The saltwater park where I like to walk is located high on a bluff with beautiful views of the Olympic Peninsula across the Puget Sound. Stairs from the parking lot go down to the beach.188 stairs, as a matter of fact. After each 20 or so stairs there is a small landing to stop, if you want to look at the view or just rest a little before soldiering on. Every day a variety of people walk up and down those stairs and sometimes I watch them for a while. I don’t know why but a lot of people want to explain what they’re doing. Yesterday I saw a woman who had stopped on one of the small landings between sets of stairs. She was standing and holding the railing. For some reason she felt compelled to explain that she was recovering from recent knee surgery and had to take it easy. There was a man walking up and holding large flat weights on top of his head. Yes. On his head. He puffed past me and explained it was his “cardio day”. Another man ran past, down and then up, taking the stairs two at a time. A little farther down I saw a woman who looked as if she might have had a stroke. She was clutching the rail the whole way, while a therapist walked with her and encouraged her. Another woman was walking backwards up the steps. If I go at a certain time of day I’m likely to run into an older Asian woman who is outgoing and friendly. She doesn’t have much English and I don’t speak her language but over repeated passings on the stairs I’ve learned her name is something that sounds like Winnie and we now greet each other by name. The other day one of my knees was really bothering me and I stopped partway up. A woman about my age passed me and asked if I was okay. I told her I was taking a break because my knee really hurt. She said, “Well, so does mine but I keep going.” Not very Gandi-like of me but I wanted to smack her.

Photo courtesy of me, Mary Kunkel at Richmond Beach Saltwater Park