The Absent Walking Stick

here is a link to the audio version, in case you would rather listen to this blog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JP_xeQKw2E

    The Absent Walking Stick. It is the title I came up with, but upon further reflection, I suppose it could have been titled, The Amazingly Non-Existent Walking Stick, or even, The Stick That Very Nearly Never Was. But, I should start at the beginning of my association with the walking stick so that you might have a better picture or understanding of my quest.

    About five years ago I found myself at the place physically where a long, (six foot), sturdy stick would be of great help to me. I found a very nice one from a local woodcarver and was quite happy. Happy that is until I fell on it and snapped it in half. I had laid it diagonally across a chair and sat down on another. When I stood up, I lost my balance and fell right on the stick. Oh well.

    I sought out the same wood carver and ordered a custom walking stick with my name wood burned onto it. Oh, and I should also mention that it has a small compass on the top in case I am miraculously cured of my Ataxia and decide to go on a hike. The sentiment is nice, and it is a thoughtful touch, but it is a bit redundant as I have the food trails that I leave behind, ( Without A Trace, #fourteen), and all the noise I make to mark my position for the First Response/Rescue Team. The Carver was also able to salvage the longer portion that I had kept from the original stick. It is about three feet long now and I'm thinking would work perfectly for a future grandchild, (just saying).

    It was around that same time that I found a unique walking cane at a little shop at the Oregon Beach, which is close to my home and that we visit often. I've used it on several occasions, but it just doesn't give me the stability or confidence of a large stick. In fact, the Neurologist I see advised me to use a full-size stick as opposed to a cane because canes encourage you to bend over and it simply falls right over with you whereas a big stick helps you to stand up straight and gives more support when you stumble.

    All of this works great provided you do not get it tangled in your feet while walking and trip yourself. And yes, by you, I mean me. Not only have I been alarmed by my own shadow, ( a story for another day), but I have a wandering foot. On occasion, the foot has wandered what it would be like if it circumvented the natural one-foot-in-front-of-the-other process and tried going around the outside of the stick,( I know it should be wondered not wandered, but I thought wandered fit better here to describe the foot's logic at this moment). As it did not adequately inform anyone else involved of this move, the result was a trip....and, not a good one.

    My dad had a small Prune Orchard at his house that he removed, and he made me a walking stick from one of those trees. Prune is a hardwood and makes an excellent walking stick. It is the smaller white one seen in the picture below. Last Fall I was at the Oregon Beach again with my family, and we were walking by the edge of the water. I found a stick that was the perfect size for me, so I took it home and dried it out. A month or two later my brother-in-law took it home with him and turned it into a very nice walking stick for me.

    My wife and I took a trip to Maui in January of this year, and I debated whether or not I would take a walking stick on the plane with me. Melissa suggested that maybe we should just buy one over there and bring it back, which I thought was an excellent idea because I wanted a third stick and one from Hawaii would also be a memento of the trip. The only problem with that plan, sound as it may have been, was that we got over there and couldn't find a stick anywhere. We talked to shop owners who always recommended another potential shop or wood carver just down the street.  It started to feel like we were looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I expected to go over there and find sticks in abundance, but one carver I talked with told me that full-size walking sticks aren't made very much because everything is hand carved, not turned on a lathe, so it is more time consuming and isn't done much. About the time that I was ready to give up the search was when we ran into a carver named Lani who had a display table set up at a Plantation we were visiting. I just happened to mention my quest and the negative results, and he replied that he could make me a stick. After talking about the wood he'd use, and the height I wanted, we asked about the price. Lani answered in a very casual way that he could easily do it for between $450 and $600.Well, since this was about $0.50 more than I could pay, I passed.

    Two days later we were going to a large outdoor Swap Meet on the campus of Maui University, which is in the city of Kahului when we saw Lani again. He was in one of the booths and had a table full of his carvings. He said that he hoped to see us again because he felt bad when I walked away. When he told his wife that night that it looked like I was unstable and could use a stick, she said that he should have just gone ahead and made me one for the price I wanted to pay. So he said he would do one for me and mail it to the states because at that point we were leaving in 2 days.