![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/StillWalking.jpg?resize=139%2C300&ssl=1\")
\u00a0This screen shot was taken on October 1. \u00a0I meant to take it when I hit 20,000 miles, but I overshot by six-tenths of a mile. \u00a0When I set out to write Until Proven Guilty<\/em>\u00a0in March of 1983, I set out to write one book. \u00a0I never expected to be working on book number 68. \u00a0When I set out to walk 10,000 steps a day on April 6, 2015, I did so in hopes of reaching that mark for that day. \u00a0I never in this world expected that someday I would have walked more than 42,000,000 steps, much less 20,000 miles, and have a 1,414-day walking streak \u00a0Those are big numbers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWhen I started walking, I did so in hopes of encouraging Bill to walk in order to maintain his ability to continue doing so, and that worked. \u00a0He\u2019s still walking, not very much but some. \u00a0He\u2019s not confined to a cart and at this point, I count that as a victory. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
By the way, the second quarter just ended, and the Seahawks did indeed show up. \u00a0Now you know part of my secret. \u00a0I write while the TV does whatever the TV is currently doing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
I used to walk outside, enjoying the yard and the changing of the seasons. Now I walk inside. \u00a0For one thing, if I happen to stumble, there are a lot more things to grab onto inside than out. \u00a0Not only that, I have it on good authority that falling on a hardwood floor can be less damaging than falling on pavement or a concrete pool deck. \u00a0In addition, walking inside makes it easier for Bill to summon me if he needs my assistance. \u00a0And that\u2019s the real reason I continue to walk\u2014I need to maintain my own health in order to take care of his.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
When I walked outside, I used to count steps as I marched along. \u00a0Now I count laps. \u00a0One lap means walking from one end of the house to the other and back, including two trips around the kitchen island and four around the elephant table in the entryway. \u00a0That\u2019s a 222-step lap. \u00a0Getting Bill tucked into bed at night is worth 500. \u00a0Preparing meals, serving them, and cleaning up afterwards is usually good for a thousand or so.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
My watch and phone don’t specify which steps are purposeful walking steps and which ones are incidental living steps, but the truth is, at almost 81, I regard each one as a step in the right direction. My favorite Bible verse is Deuteronomy 3:16. \u00a0I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
At this point I feel I\u2019ve chosen life more than 42,000,000 times!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
P.S. And, just in case you\u2019re interested in keeping score on something besides steps, here\u2019s the score on THE GIRL FROM DEVIL\u2019S LAKE.\u00a0\u00a0A heartfelt thank you to all the loyal readers who made that possible.\u00a0\u00a0I guess the old girl\u2019s still got it!<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you\u2019re tired of reading about my walking score, you\u2019re welcome to skip reading this blog altogether. \u00a0I\u2019m writing this\u00a0on Sunday afternoon. \u00a0I just finished getting today\u2019s steps, and I\u2019m waiting to see if the Seahawks are actually going to show up for their game. \u00a0It\u2019s well into the second quarter, and so far there\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3nsBA-S0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3348"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3355,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3348\/revisions\/3355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}