I See You

Shortly after I’d gotten Bandit in mid-2001, we got into a walking routine. My original intent was to walk different places in the neighborhood, adding some variety for both him and me. I soon realized, however, that a different route also included different smells which meant a half hour walk turned into a 50 minute walk as Bandit catalogued all of the new smells and found a bunch more vertical targets to anoint. Many lengthy walks later, I realized that if I were ever to regain control of our walk time, we’d need to establish a regular route so that it wasn’t all new to Bandit every day and we could accomplish our mile or so in about a half hour.

Although I made the change in our routine because of Bandit, I found that I enjoyed the regular route as well. Bandit became familiar with our route and essentially began walking himself with me trailing behind. But it also allowed me to become much more intimately familiar with the rhythm of the neighborhood. I could see who was doing work on their house or yard, which houses displayed signs of dysfunction behind their front doors, who was a control freak and who was lassez faire. People moved out, others moved in and began putting their imprint on their new homes. Young couples had babies, old people became sick and passed away, single people found and lost lovers, people got puppies and took in strays, couples got divorced – and I had a front seat to all of the action, unbeknownst to them.

We all think that what goes on in our houses and in our lives remains private to us and to those closest to us. After all, our joys, our fights, our family gatherings and social encounters take place behind closed doors and curtained windows and in back yards. Who but only those that we allow into our little bubble would truly know the pattern of our lives? Who can see how we evolve and change and add and divest people and belongings but our friends and our families and perhaps a few neighbors?

For nine years now, I’ve been walking essentially the same route in the morning, a counterclockwise tour of twelve blocks, and a slightly different route in the evening, a clockwise tour of ten to eleven blocks. I’ve made several friends along the way – all of them animal lovers, the common bond that brought us together in – and I’ve come to learn about many, many people that populate this wonderful, weird neighborhood I live in. I suspect that many of the people that live in this neighborhood would be surprised (and possibly a little uncomfortable) to learn how much I know about them from watching their patterns over the past near-decade.

In future blog entries, I plan to introduce you to the cast of the characters that I share space with in this lovely, urban neighborhood. Many have pets, because it’s the first thing I notice, and my first point of contact. But many don’t, and have stood out on their own in other ways. Ninety percent of the time, I genuinely care for and respect these people, even the kooks. Occasionally, a bad seed sneaks in here, but they, too, contribute to the rich tapestry of this neighborhood. Every single one of them has a story to tell… and I look forward to telling a few.