Leave Footprints

Welcome to Mile Marker 9,436...

where a car horn on the streets of Philly scares two puppies in the woods of Vermont!

Crazy how we connect these days.

It's National Siblings Day.  And while I'm pretty sure that's a made-up holiday, it's a perfect excuse to walk with my sister Sam...  

I'm the oldest of 6 sibs.  If I said Sam was my favorite, I'd probably get flack.  So let's just say she's my favorite sister. 

Plus, I don't have enough bandwidth
to walk with everyone at once!

In a house full of brothers, sisters stick together.  No matter how far apart they grow.

I'm the big sister (a.k.a "city mouse").

And she's the little sister (a.k.a. "country mouse").

We are as different as the places we live, yet we LOVE our time together.

Wherever we end up!

Despite the wonders of technology, Sam has no cell phone service outside her Vermont home.  

So she loads up the kids and pups, and drives to different woods with better reception.  

Our plan is to "video chat + walk + hike" together.  (Just try to come up with a name for that one!)

At Mile 9,436, the signals align and we connect.  

Happy Siblings Day!

Sam and me.

 Brennan, Dylan, and Riley

And Kamala and Reggie,
two puppy sibs who've never heard city noise
-- until today!

We set out on separate journeys in separate places.  Together.

I walk the bricks of Independence Mall.
The kids scramble up hills. 

I step carefully into crosswalks.

They climb fallen trees like balance beams.

At one point, the "peepers" in their woods are so loud, I can hear them over the car horns!

I take screenshot after screenshot, each one blurrier than the next.  I flip the camera around to show the kids what I'm walking past.

I try to capture it all.

To make the memories REAL.

But the truth is...

...time and distance have never kept us apart.

When Sam was 9 years old, I left for college. 

We've been separated by years -- and miles -- our entire lives.

And yet, even through this quarantine, when travel isn't possible,

we've found ways to be together!

Toward the end of our walk, I hear Dylan crunching around on the trail.  

Like a true little sis, she's up to something -- rainbow skirt, bare knees, muddy boots -- stomping her small feet into the wet ground.

"What are you doing?" I hear Sam ask her.

Dilly's 4-year-old voice

echoes among the trees, 
floats through the air,
pings off a cell phone tower,
and another, and another, and another, 
until it somehow lands in my ear 5 states away.

"I'm leavin' footprints," she says...

..."so I can remember I've been here."

For someone who's years away from owning a cell phone, she's quite the smarty pants.

Distance and time?  It's kids' stuff.

Call your sister.  Or brother.  Or cousin.  Or friend.

Make memories.  Leave footprints.

Walk on!
Rebecca