A Wickedly Good Walk

I just got back from a walk. I left my house at 8:25 by car, with my wife dropping me near the flower shop she works in the Village. She was meeting a friend for breakfast, and I was taking advantage of Memorial Day with a big walk. Some may remember my writing about a walk on the 4th of July last year, when I walked from my home to a house where we used to live from 2000-2006. Yes, I like to walk! First of all, despite my recent health challenges (bronchiectasis), this walk was not a challenge physically. Second, it was kind of a bold walk, which I will discuss below. Finally, while I like to walk half-marathon distances or longer, I did cut this walk short, taking a bus home.

I left Fran at 8:45 and headed to Braes Bayou, walking on Kirby and then then cutting on Bellefontaine, which was where my favorite Aunt, Amy Bassist, used to live. She has been dead for a while now. If she were still alive, she would have celebrated her 112th birthday earlier this month! It was nice to remember her again.

I walked along Braes Bayou, passing Buffalo Speedway. A bit further down, I saw the pedestrian bridge built over the bayou in honor of Rabbi Samuel Karff, someone I used to know very well. I always like Rabbi Karff and his wife, and their third daughter, Elizabeth, is a good friend still. The bridge was announced a little over a year ago, and it opened in early February. I walked across it!

While this was not part of my plans, I knew that Three Brothers Bakery was nearby, and I walked to it. It is owned by a couple that I know: Janice and Bobby Jucker. They operate now four stores in Houston, including this one on Braeswood, one in Memorial, one in Tanglewood and one on Washington Street, which is closer to my home and which I sometimes visit.

I got this:

I didn't eat it right away! I kept walking...

I walked down N. Braeswood, crossing under Loop 610. Things were very different from the last time I walked through this part of Houston, which was damaged badly in 2017 by Hurricane Harvey.

I lived in this part of town for many years. When we sold our house on Beech Street in 2006, we rented a house that was close to it on Birch Street. The owner decided to tear it down and build a house for himself, so we ended up buying a house in Meyerland on Ferris Drive. Worst. Mistake. Ever.

After we left Ferris in 2010, we rented a house nearby on Valerie Street, but deja vous! The owner tore down the house and built one where she lived. From there, we found a house on Jason Street - number 5307. We lived there for six years (2012-2018) before moving into the house in Montrose where we live now. This whole neighborhood was familiar to me as a very young boy, as I lived on Birdwood Road in Houston in a house my father designed.

The goal of my walk today was to visit these homes, which I did. I turned off of Braeswood onto Rice, which I remember well. My kids spent time here near the corner:

From there, I turned on Birdwood, but I forgot that the street ends. I cut around and got back to my old street as a small child:

I used to walk by it when we lived on Jason Street, as it was just three blocks away. I walked those three blocks, and I saw the house we used to rent:

I was kind of nervous about looking at it, as I feared that the people renting it now might see me. They did not. I took this picture and enjoyed my cookie from Three Brothers!

So, who lives in this house now? Well, I know that my sister, the one who cut me and my family out of my father's obituary, lives there. Yes, it is a small world that can be strange at times! I don't know this, but I have heard and believe that it is true that my mother lives there too!

From the rental house, I walked to where we had owned a house from 2008-2010, 8722 Ferris:

While I don't think my two kids ever did this, I walked from there to Bellaire High School, which is not at all the same school they both attended:

I kept walking through Bellaire, stopping the walk at Bissonnet Street and catching a bus home.

I like to walk, and I really enjoy reconnecting physically with my past. No, we can never really go back, but we can appreciate how far we have come in life.