Forrest Gump is one of my favorite movies of all time. In it, Tom Hanks delivers some of the best lines ever written. Darrell can say a line from the movie and the shared experience of watching it comes back. (Among the best: "Sorry I had to fight in the middle of your Black Panther Party." and "Her dream had come true. She was a folk singer.")
I've been thinking a lot about Forrest recently—more specifically, his running. Forrest just decides one day to start running. And he doesn't stop. He reaches a destination and decides to just keep on going. As people start noticing his efforts, they wonder why he does what he does. His answer: "I just felt like running."
The ultra-cool Nikes (my sister Holly and I had identical pairs) saw a lot as he traveled hundreds of miles. During his travels, Forrest thought a lot. He thought about his Mama. He thought about Bubba and Lt. Dan. But most of all, he thought about Jenny. And finally after three years, two months, 14 days, and 16 hours, he decided to stop. Turns out he did have a reason for running. Like Forrest, one day I just decided to start running for no reason. Or maybe you'd call it jogging—someone could walk next to me and keep up. And, like Forrest, I got tired and quit. But now I'm running again. Don't sign me up for the next marathon, but I can run three miles farther than I could last year. I'm even planning on entering a 5k race next month, and I have retired the old (or should I say magic) shoes that have gotten me here.
I'm pretty tired—think I'll stop writing now.
