The 52 Hike Challenge: Memorial

Hike 17

52 Hike challenge mural yellow sun, cactus

Memorial Day. In the strictest sense, it’s a day to honor those in the military who died in service to our country. After visiting the Christina-Taylor Green memorial park in Tucson Arizona for hike #17 of our 52 Hike Challenge, I would like to broaden that definition.

Christina-Taylor’s life was book-ended by tragedy. She was born on 9-11-2001, the date of the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers. The signage at the park states that “From a very early age she was aware of the significance of her birth date, which in turn inspired her interest in politics.” She was a lively, creative child who loved to dance, sing, and take part in sports. Her butterfly drawings and paintings were memorable.

52 hike challenge Christina-Taylor Green Park Sign

The plaque goes on to say, “Sadly, Christina-Tayor Green was taken from her family on January, 2011 in Tucson Arizona.”

On that day, 9-year-old Christina-Taylor went with a family friend to see US Representative Gabrielle Giffords speak at a shopping center in Tucson.  Christina was one of six people killed as a gunman fired into the crowd in an attempt to assassinate Representative Giffords.

The Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Park was dedicated in 2017 and is located close to the Green’s home and where Christiana and her brother used to play. As we wandered through this tribute, references to the butterflies she loved so much were seen in the murals, butterfly garden, and a large sculpture modeled after one of her last paintings.

The park is next to the Tucson Loop Trail, 137 miles of biking and pedestrian paths that connect the wider Tucson area. After visiting the memorial, I walked quietly along the Loop for a mile or so and back, trying to make sense of the tragedies that framed Christina’s life. I could not. I cling to the message of hope on one of the park’s beautiful mosaics. “All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.”

Walkers, joggers and cyclists were making good use of the Loop trail, enjoying the cool desert morning as they passed by Christina’s park. I wondered if they were aware of this quiet stop along the trail, or of the child it memorializes.

 Life goes on for some. For others, we are left with a memory.

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Threads of Thought

Debra VanDeventer is the author of two books: Out of the Crayon Box: Thoughts on Teaching, Retirement, and Life and Until Italy: A Traveler’s Memoir available HERE.

2 Books, Out of the Crayon Box: Thoughts on Teaching, Retirement, and Life...and Until Italy: A traveler's memoir

The 52 Hike Challenge Update #1

The Phone Booth at the Edge of the Trail

The Phone Booth at the Edge of the trail
An old rotary phone sits in the phone booth at the edge of the trail

My husband, Ed and I are taking part in the 52 Hike Challenge, one hike each week during 2024. Because I’m a writer/sewist I’m documenting each hike in words and fabric. Each hike “earns” a fabric triangle that I’ll stitch into a quilt.

So far, we’re on track. We’ve logged in 16 hikes from January to April–mostly local parks and trails, taking advantage of the cooler temps here in Arizona.  As brutally hot weather approaches, we’ll need to head to the mountains, or woodlands. As casual hikers, we aren’t concerned about speed or miles (though the official rules state the “hikes” must be at least one mile outdoors.) We try to seek new places and invite friends and family along. And I always find a story…

On a recent hike, we met friends David and Suzanne in Green Valley, Arizona to hike the nature trail in Madera Canyon. After a beautiful hike, we stopped for lunch, then visited Desert Meadows Park, a veritable oasis in the desert. We hiked down the trail at the edge of the park, and there it was. A white stucco structure, just big enough for a person or two to stand in. A phone booth. In the desert.

A white stucco Phone booth at the edge of the trail on the 52 hike challenge
A white stucco phone booth on the edge of the trail.

According to the sign, the owner/builder of this unique structure was inspired by the wind phone in the novel The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina, the story about a real phone booth in a rural town in Japan that was decimated by the 2011 tsunami. The disconnected rotary telephone allows grieving family members to “speak” to loved ones who have passed on.

Stepping inside the unique space, we commented on the simplicity of the architecture and the amount of care an effort that had gone into it. A simple, black rotary phone was in the window. The sign below it read: “speak from the heart to be heard.”

Suddenly, I asked to be alone for a moment. A strange feeling came over me as I stared at the old, disconnected phone. I picked up the receiver and dialed the letters that spelled a name. I spoke from the heart, whispering words to my father who’d been gone for 24 years.

 a wire wraps around an antique glass insulator at the phone booth at the edge of the trail on the 52 hike Challenge
A blue antique insulator and a wire disappears into the sky.

Outside the booth, a telephone wire winds around an antique glass insulator, then floats into the air. I imagined my words taking flight. Or maybe it wasn’t my imagination. 

The wind phone is a treasure offering a quiet respite, an unexpected moment of reflection as I journeyed down the path on hike # 16.

And the quilt is taking shape. It’s not stitched together yet, but I wanted to lay it out and see how it might look..16 triangles, 16 hikes, 16 stories.

The 52 hike challenge quilt
16 triangles. 16/52 hikes
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Threads of Thought

“Walking is not, can never be, just about burning calories or counting steps. It’s and ancient act, evolved over millions of years and is deeply integral to our sense of belonging, both physically and psychologically.” (Antonia Malchik, A Walking Life)

Find out more about how and why we began the 2024 52 Hike Challenge HERE

2 Books,  Out of the Crayon Box: Thoughts on Teaching, Retirement, and Life...and Until Italy: A traveler's memoir

Read More from Debra! Out of the Crayon Box: Thoughts on Teaching, Retirement and Life was recently featured at the 2024 Tucson Festival of Books, and her newest title Until Italy: A Traveler’s Memoir was released only a few weeks ago!

Get your copies HERE!