If you have carefully examined hundred people you met in your life journey, it means that you have read hundred different books! Every person you know is a book; world is full of walking books; some are boring, some are marvellous, some are weak, some are powerful, but they are all useful because they all carry different experiences of different paths! -Mehmet Murat ildan, Turkish novelist

Has the thought of someone you hadn’t seen in a really long time ever popped into your head for no apparent reason? How about several of those people, all with something in common? That’s what happened to me yesterday, and it was a tremendous start to a day that turned out to be a very warm and fuzzy experience.

Because we’ve moved around so much over the years, I don’t have very deep roots anywhere. I wish I did, but such is not the case. Ironically, because we’ve moved around so much—and now, with this life-on-wheels—I’ve been blessed with friends from a lot of different parts of the country. And what I have in common with all of them is ‘walking.’ I have met every one of these friends while out walking.

Yesterday morning while knitting, I thought about one such friend, Beth, whom I’d met briefly on a walking path in an RV park in Hot Springs, Arkansas four years ago. Which got me to thinking about Tracey, with whom I hiked for about an hour in High Falls, Georgia the year before that. My oldest such friend is Carol, whom I got to know nearly 30 years ago while walking in a Susan B. Komen 5K in Washington, DC. And I’ve been blessed with at least a couple more of these special friends whom I’ve met walking…actually, more.

When I think of people randomly like that, I always try to send them a text immediately to let them know I’m thinking about them. I don’t know why, but I regard those kinds of thoughts as nudges from God. All I know is that sending a thinking-of-you text results in me getting a loving message in return. It doesn’t take but a few minutes, but its positive effects lasts all day long, and sometimes longer. It was no different with the text messages I’d received from Beth and Tracey. I am so grateful.

Then, out of the blue and just as I’d gotten home from a hair appointment that afternoon, came a knock at the door. I wasn’t expecting anyone, but here was Diane from Minnesota, who was passing through with her husband Jeff on their way back from the coast. They were in Bandera only one night. Did I want to go for a walk. Of course, I did!

For someone who’s gone through life like a tumbleweed, these friends, who’ve literally walked into my life, have made more of a positive impact on my life than I could have ever imagined. The fact that I’ve kept in touch with people I met briefly years ago truly blows my mind. The saying about people coming into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime rings true.

I wonder what it is about walking that brings certain people together.🤔 I guess it takes getting outside (ourselves) to avail oneself to blessings that would not otherwise be had…to make eye-contact, smile and say “Hi” to complete strangers. At least that’s what I’ve found works. So, get out. You never know what blessings await!♥️