A Very Nice Surprise!

After returning home from the Muskegon area today I received a phone call from my friend, Tom saying that he was going to be getting out of his clinic early this afternoon and had something he wanted to show me that he had made. All he would say was that it had to do with the 80 mile walk-a-thon that the four of us had gone on this last summer...I was curious!

Well...Tom could not have possibly thought of a better memento of our walk then the "walking stick". Tom's walking stick (as you will see in the header of my blog) was with us the entire 80 miles. It served as a source of entertainment as we passed it around and twirled the "batton" in our little parade. And, it also served as an exercise tool to keep the swelling down in our hands. On one occasion Tom had accidently left the stick behind at one of our rest stops and had to turn around and run about a mile to get his stick and bring it back...this was on the third day of walking in about 90 degree heat...if that tells you how good of shape he's in! I don't think I could have lifted a leg high enough by that point to run! ;-))

Anyways, to cut my ramblings down a bit. Tom carved and polished walking sticks (like his own) for Susie, Diane, and me for Christmas as a keepsake of our three days of fun in the sun together...many good memories! :o)

Thanks, Tom!!