Today, April 19, is a Red Letter Day in my personal health quest. It is the day that I crossed the 1,200 miles walked mark in under 12 months. Made it with three days to spare.

I chose walking as my exercise of choice because it’s something I ought to be able to do the rest of my life. There are some assumptions built into that “rest of my life” line.

I was diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetic in February 1999. It was not a huge surprise given that my mother’s mother was diabetic, blinded by the disease.

At some point, maybe two decades ago, my mother was diagnosed with it as well. She started out on medications, but is now insulin dependent.

Largely as a result of her diabetes, her kidneys have experienced some issues and she has been on dialysis for two years.

I had the opportunity to take her to dialysis in Virginia earlier this month and came away with eyes wide open. Everyone diagnosed with diabetes ought to be forced to attend a dialysis center. My mom was virtually the only person in the center with all her limbs. Diabetes robbed two legs from the woman in the chair next to my mom. It took one leg from the man next to her and legs just beneath the knee from the man next to him.

You get the point.

I hope to be able to walk the rest of my life.

I hope I’ve opened your eyes, because there is so much to see as you walk the trails of Rome and Floyd County.

I love Ridge Ferry Park. It is my Nirvana for walking. I wish one of the garden clubs that do such a wonderful job in our community would adopt the park and plant some azaleas, or rhododendron or tulips. Color is the only thing missing from the park.

Early on this spring, I’ve done more walking along the levees because we’ve had so much high water that the part of Ridge Ferry closest to the library has been under water. A lot!

The levees offer lovely views of the river and the old fourth ward community where the new Tony Warren M.D. Cancer Center, Barron Stadium and the Floyd Medical Center are located.

I took a walk out the Silver Creek Trail the other day, just to see how progress on the Kingfisher Trail is going. The Silver Creek Trail, from East First Avenue out to East 12th Street at the public health office, is tremendously underutilized. Hopefully, the Kingfisher connection to downtown will open that up to more foot and pedal traffic. The King Fisher is going to be gorgeous.

Rome has just received a new grant from the Department of Transportation to finish the plaza off the Town Green and complete logical connections for the various trails, all part of the Heritage Riverways system.

That’s what it’s called. File Heritage Riverways in your mindset. There’s the Ross to Ridge Road (Ridge Ferry), the Silver Creek Trail, soon-to-be-Kingfisher along the South Rome side of the Etowah River. I don’t rightly know what to call the levee trails, so lets just call them the Levee Trails.

You don’t have to venture out of downtown Rome to puzzle together walks of any length, ranging from a tenth of a mile to 7 or 8 miles.

Get out and walk, shed a few pounds along the way and remember, when you’re outdoors, the only thing you want to leave behind are the pounds. It really works.

I’m determined to beat this diabetes thing and hang on to my legs and eyes.

There’s just so much to do and see.