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In 2002, I wrote a short story called “Michigan, You Walk a Long Way,” and I was honored to have it chosen by Chicken Soup Enterprises for its Chicken Soup to Inspire the Body & Soul book. I was doubly honored in late 2008 when the Chicken Soup people chose it as a 101 Best Story for its Chicken Soup Happily Ever After book (which, by the way, is one of my all-time favorite Chicken Soup books). Anyway, in that story, I made a resolution to walk an hour every day and return home to tell my husband I love him. Well, I kept that resolution for several years. Then, yes, I fell out of my walking routine. Well reading the story again over the winter holidays has renewed my resolve to walk frequently (okay, I’ll shoot for everyday), and return home to tell my husband I love him.

Because I also retain rights to my “Michigan” story, I am happy to share it here for you. It might just inspire you to do the same or something similar. NOTE: The other stories in Chicken Soup Happily Ever After are really terrific. I encourage you to check out the book. Enjoy!

Michigan, You Walk a Long Way

“Michigan, you walk a long way. I watch you.” “Yes, sir, I have.” “When I was 35, my doctor told me to walk an hour everyday, it make me live longer. I walk from Oso Parkway and go down to Alicia. Then I go home and tell my wife I love her.”

I was into my first week of training for the Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day, Los Angeles 2002, a three-day walk to raise money to benefit underserved women with breast cancer. The walk is 60 miles long, 20 miles each day. I nearly skipped my walk that day, thinking that I really should get started to work an hour or so early, so I could complete a new business proposal that I started the day before. But I decided to walk first, that it would help clear my head. I felt I had to do it.

According to the training schedule the Walk organizers gave me, I was to walk three miles that day to stay on track. Each week I would progressively walk further and further until I worked up to two 12-mile back-to-back walks in one weekend prior to the big event. To prepare for these various walks, I spent an afternoon several weeks prior mapping out various locations, to determine how far each one was – one mile, 1.5 miles, four miles, etc.

Anyway, I walked four miles the day before, because I missed it earlier in the week to prepare for an early teleconference. So, I considered putting this day’s off until the next day. That thought was fleeting. Again, I felt I just needed to do it. So I pulled out my maps. The 1.5 mile (one way) route was to Gilleran Park (Mission Viejo, Calif.) and back. So, I gathered my things, among them my headphones and a book on tape, Chicken Soup for the Soul, tape one, volume one. Because my favorite, gray sweatshirt was in the wash, I dug out and pulled on a very old sweatshirt, one I hadn’t worn in nearly ten years. It was a gift from one of my ex-husband’s friends, and it had the University of Michigan logo across the front of it. Off I went, happily listening to my tape, tearing up now and again at an especially poignant story and oh so glad I decided to walk after all.

About ¾ of the way into it, I spotted the shape of a man a quarter mile ahead of me on the same side of the street. I didn’t think much of it, except that it didn’t matter. He was going the same direction and was way ahead of me. I’d never catch up or pass him before I reached the park and turned around. So I continued at my pace. Nevertheless, the phrase “Stay alert. Stay alive,” went through my head as I remembered attending a Walk orientation meeting a month or two earlier. I soon realized I was gaining on the man. I briefly considered crossing the street. Then I saw a female jogger approach and pass him as she came up the street toward me. He hadn’t even glanced at her. So, I decided he was out exercising like the rest of us, and I needn’t be concerned. I kept walking, listening to my tape. The park is high above the street as you approach its driveway. People who park on the street, gain access to it by climbing a stairway that leads from the sidewalk. The man, whom by now I could see was an older man, was on the stairs about halfway up, looking at me. I could tell he wanted to say something, so I stopped, looked up at him, took off my headphones, and smiled. He said, “Michigan (referring to the blue and gold logo on my white sweatshirt), you walk a long way. I watch you.” I said, “Yes, sir, I did,” and kept smiling, waiting. I felt comfortable talking to him. Then he told me how, when he was 35 years old, he was sick. His doctor told him to start walking everyday, that it would make him healthier, stronger. He said from that day he has walked one hour every day, and this day he was 65! He held up his arms in a strongman pose. “I am strong and healthy,” he said.

He went on to tell me that everyday he walks. Then he goes home to his wife and tells her he loves her. He said that keeps him healthy, too. He added that he tells her he walks for her, because he loves her. The man then said something that made me catch my breath. He simply said, with force and a pointed finger, “You will live a long time if you do the same – walk an hour every day and tell your husband you do it because you love him.”

“You walk a long way.” That statement could be a metaphor for the last two years of my life (and for the lives of those around me). I am a 36-year-old breast cancer survivor.

I thought I was doing the Avon 3-Day walk, because I received so much help from so many people and organizations, and because my sister had a passion to do it. That nice man made me realize that I am also walking for the same reason that I endured two mastectomies, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and the removal of my ovaries – because I love my husband, children, family, friends, and other people in my life so much that I want to be around for a lot more years.

I will walk every day, and I will go home and tell my husband I walk because I love him. DSJC

For years now, I have been in the practice of emailing a daily wisdom or inspirational quote to my family, friends and colleagues.  I’ve come to be identified somewhat with or by my daily quotes, and I personally enjoy plucking a little wisdom from them each day.  Yesterday’s quote was: 

“The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but to reveal to him his own,” attributed to Benjamin Disraeli (1804 – 1881).

This quote is very appropriate for my life right now.  The Breast Cancer Wellness magazine featuring my debut as assistant editor came out just this month – Fall 2007.  In it, I profiled three amazing, inspirational breast cancer survivors, each of whom shared their stories to the enrichment of us all.  I write these in part to be a breast cancer awareness advocate.

But, I get so much from them, too.  Each lady, in her own way, essentially came back to me after seeing her story published to say, “Wow, I didn’t realize that I was doing so much!”  I love that I’ve helped them see, in some small way, how amazing they are.  Like the quote, I am sharing my writing ability and my own cancer experiences in helping these people share their stories and, in the process, helping them find their riches.  How awesome is that?

It occurs to me that this is in the spirit of blogging, too, especially with regard to marketing and public relations – that idea of sharing what we know, sharing our riches.  Sure, some of us do it to show what we know, but we’re also helping each other.  It’s a win-win for us all.  Again, I say, how awesome is that!

The St. Conti Communicator is a blog by me, Donna St. Jean Conti, APR, public relations practitioner, writer and breast cancer awareness advocate. 

What you’ll find here are musings on the state of marketing communications, public relations, freelance writing and speaking sprinkled in with posts about my passions – The Breast Cancer Wellness Magazine & breast cancer awareness (wellness in general) and teaching our children about the environment, plus global warming and peak oil.  Wide-ranging, I know, but we all have our complexities.

Please join the conversation.

DSJC.