A simple walk to school turns into an exercise in patience, perspective

I was juiced on two mugs of coffee when I arrived at the Pinecrest Amenity Center at 7:40 last Wednesday morning. It was one of three rendezvous points for Bluffton Elementary School students participating in "Walk to School Day," and I'd inhaled a banana during my expeditious drive to the neighborhood just off Bluffton Parkway.

I'd read the morning papers. I'd stopped in the office. I'd checked my e-mail and written checks to keep the electricity and an Internet connection alive at my abode.

You'd think I'd crossed off enough on my day's "to-do" list to enjoy five minutes of waiting for students to gather for their mile-long trek to school. Instead, I could only generate one thought: "Hurry up."

In case you missed it, October was International Walk to School Month, and the fact that we need to designate a particular period of time to remind us that kids can hike to their local campuses says a lot.

When Kelli Normoyle, a Pinecrest resident, spoke with me about Bluffton Elementary's planned event -- a day when kids from three residential communities could meet up at various points on a walking route to the school -- I imagined it might provide the opportunity to write about the new, paved pathways that now hem H.E. McCracken Circle. Or about the health benefits kids could reap from morning exercise. Or about the improvements to air quality that safer walking routes bring to Bluffton. At the very least, it would give me a chance to sound like my parents ("When I was your age, I walked to school ...").

But trailing behind four grade-schoolers on a muggy morning showed me walking to school also teaches kids a lesson lost on all too many grown-ups: There are moments when it's important not to do too much, too fast.

The students living in Pinecrest, Pine Ridge and The Farm at Buckwalter had a simple aim: Get from Point A to Point B. Some seemed perplexed when I pressed for more elaborate answers to my query, "Why should you walk to school?"

"Walking to school is fun," one freckle-faced girl told me. "You should try it sometime."

The 100-plus participants didn't scurry; they strolled, spectacularly sure their leisurely pace would get them to their destination right on time. They didn't multitask; they stayed on a single path, with no cell phones or iPods or Blackberrys to distract them. They didn't ignore signs; they paid attention to flags and lines and the voices of those guarding dangerous crossroads.

Adults in cars and golf carts waved at the children en route, as if to say, "How sweet. How quaint. You'll get there."

Thing is, these kids knew they would.

I often struggle with keeping a slower pace of life. I can easily get plagued by the belief that I won't get where I need to be or finish all I need to do if I don't hurry up, or take care of tasks simultaneously, or tune out so-called distractions around me. But last Wednesday morning, I sauntered behind a fourth-grader and watched her braided pigtails make S-shaped curves as she lilted toward the start of her school day. And I wondered if I was as wise as these children walking to school.

And if maybe I should start walking to work.

Jenny Lim is the reporter for The Bluffton Packet and is assistant features editor for

The Island Packet.