Orientation, Memory, and Walking

Reflections on how we orient ourselves, connect to memories, and get to know places and people through walking.

When visiting a place I’ve known over time, I sometimes imagine coming around a corner and catching a glimpse of my younger self in the same space.

I imagine these glimpses from a distance, not any interaction. It’s not so much about a time travel fantasy as the fact that spaces take me back to my previous stages of life and experience. Upon return to these spaces, those times suddenly feel just around the corner. It’s an interesting process of return and reflection on my younger self.

July has been a month of travel, of return to familiar places and orientation to new roles. I spent the first ten days of July at Shrine Mont Retreat and Conference center in Orkney Springs, Virginia. Mid-July, Chad, Kevin and I traveled to Charlottesville for 3 days for Kevin’s college orientation.

Shrine Mont Pond with Maryland House Hotel reflected early in the morning in July.

Ryan and Kevin visiting the downtowm mall on a visit to see a friends’ art show in 2015.

Shrine Mont and Charlottesville are both places I know through walking.

During these recent visits, I’ve thought a lot about what it means to know a place in this way. Walking grounds me; it is a way to orient myself and get to know new spaces. I feel a deeper sense of presence and connection with places I know through walking. Additionally, walking prompts imaginings and connections with my past experiences. On foot, paths suddenly feel familiar, I’m reminded of old routines.

The terrain of Shrine Mont is hilly and roads are narrow. Staff travel by golf cart and, while cars are permitted to drive, I always prefer to walk. There are so many more options for walking; trails around the pond, through the woods, along a stream, and up the mountain.

I wake with the early morning light and walk to the Virginia House hotel for coffee. Ahead of me on the path a bunny dashes across the small wooden bridge to the path around the pond. I hear the trill of the redwing blackbirds and the low bass of the bullfrogs. In the cool morning air, mist rises over the pond and the colors of sunrise reflect in the water. 

I spend the rest of the day walking to gathering spaces where I meet campers, walking to meals, walking in the evening again for reflection, and even retracing my steps when I have left my bag or water bottle behind. I don’t have to think about exercise or “going for a walk” when I am at Shrine Mont; walking is a central part of being there. I feel an intimacy with the place through noticing what’s blooming, the rise and fall of water levels in the stream and watching weather patterns move in over the mountains.

Images from morning walks around Shrine Mont.

My first year living as a student in Charlottesville I got around primarily by walking. I remember my parents’ first visit and my request to be taken to the grocery store. The path I was used to walking was not one they could drive. I hadn’t yet learned to navigate my new city by car, I knew it on only on foot. Even once I did have a car, it was reserved for grocery runs to the shopping center. Most of my favorite places were accessable by walking. In Charlottesville, I imagine seeing my college self at one of the beloved used book stores on the downtown mall.

As a photography student, I often walked with my camera. I got to know the areas I walked through details, the quality of light and shadow on the side of a nearby house, the way basketball hoops would reflect in puddles in the park at the end of my street. Photos of reflections in windows of the downtown mall businesses were some of my favorite subjects.

Shadows and reflections from walks around Charlottesville, 1994-1997.

Our visit to Charlottesville was officially for orientation, for Kevin as a new student and for Chad and I as the parents of a student. As I walked around, I found myself remembering and connecting to a place that felt familiar, to city streets that I’d walked up to 30 years ago and to memories of visits to art spaces. I also found myself reorienting to the space in a new role, anticipating Kevin living here and myself coming to visit, discovering the city anew through his experiences and relationships.

I’d love to hear from you too:

How does walking help you to orient yourself to new or familiar places?

Are there places you visit and walk at different life stages that particularly invite reflections on earlier experiences?

Summer Reading about Walking

Award Winning Children’s books with wisdom for all ages:

(Both can also be found as read-alouds on youtube.)

Grasshopper on the Road by Arnold Lobel

Wonder Walkers by Micha Archer

Memoirs and Reflections:

Walking to Listen: 4,000 Miles Across America, One Story at a Time by Andrew Forsthoefel

Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit

For summer, I will be spending a bit more time wandering and wondering and a bit less time on screen. Typically, I write every two weeks. For July and August, I will write monthly with a return to a regular biweekly newsletter in September.

Thank you for reading and being a part of creative community through this newsletter.

With a grateful heart,

Kathryn

Views from my hike to the top of North Mountain at Shrine Mont in July.

One excellent way to support this work is to share with friends.

September Exhibit - Teeny Tiny Trifecta at Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville

3 Pieces from my Sky Break series will be exhibited in September.