The purpose driven walk

The asshole Rick Warren wrote a book called "The Purpose Driven Life." His purpose, of course, as well as that of fellow charlatans such as Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, the pope, Oral Roberts (Jr. and Sr.) and the not-so-fictional Elmer Gantry, is to separate stupid people from their money while amassing a great personal fortune and some degree of infamy.

If you want to see true purpose in action, take a hike with Emmylou. We are not sure of Emmy's true age, but our Gypsy is 12 years old now and Emmy looks like she's even older. But put a harness and leash on her and start her down a trail, and she acts like a two year old. She has learned that she has to take it easy on me, especially when going down hill, because I only have two legs, a high center of gravity, and am not terribly coordinated. On level ground or uphill stretches there is rarely any slack in the leash, however, and she keeps her eyes and nose focused on the trail with a single-minded purpose that I rarely see in anything or anyone else.

It is not like she's wanting to get to the end, quite the contrary, she wants the walk to continue and will often try to head me down another trail even though she knows that it's not the way back to where we started. She likes to be out, she likes the prospect of seeing other people or animals, but mostly she just likes to move.

Emmylou is part Greyhound and she seems to have inherited that love of movement along with the fine bone structure, the long limbs, and that slender body that just will not get fat no matter how much she eats. We did 3 or 4 miles on the Fluvanna Heritage Trail today as the weather changed from warm and sunny to cloudy, windy, and quite cool. Great walking weather, though.