How?

Inch by inch, life’s a cinch.
Yard by yard, life is hard.

So I break it down to little bits, and that works for me.
For example: In the summertime, I wanted to go out hiking to the hills as usual, and pick a few pails of berries on a hot summer day. The way I used to do with my bike, and I’d bike 2 miles there, and pick 4 pails of berries all day long, and bike & walk the 2 miles back, have a quick shower, and spend the rest of the evening picking over the berries.

But nowadays, just thinking about that defeats me. I can’t do that now.

But I can get dressed, and have breakfast, and find my gear, and have coffee, and pack up my walker with my stuff and go a few blocks to the nearest park-bench and rest for awhile. And then I can get up and go a few more blocks, and find another spot to rest a bit and look at the flowers and the campers and kids biking, and when I feel like I can move again, I get up and go up the road to the hills. And then I stop at the washroom, and then meander along the road some more, and find the path to the berry bushes. And then I stand there a while and rest and look at the trees, and put on my mosquito repellant, and then start pushing my walker up the first hill. And after 20 feet, I stop and breathe for awhile. And then I push my walker another 10 feet, and stop again. And then I force myself to make the top of the hill. And then, I stop to unload my walker, so I can sit on it and rest.

And then, I reload and wander along the path, looking at everything till I get to the berries…the flowers, the plants, the wind in the grasses, the birds flitting in the trees and bushes. And then I stop and snack and drink some water, then sit on the edge of the path in my walker and pick some berries. Hikers come along, and we say hi and chat a while. The day goes on this way, and I think it’s only a couple of hours, but when I look at my watch it’s 6 hours gone. So I take my half-pail of berries and make my way home again, just a bit at a time. And as I go, I’m storing up experiences and memories and loving every minute of it. And it’s still life…a good life…and I’m happy.