It's a simple thing, going for a long walk with someone you love. Just strolling along--perhaps with a destination in mind, perhaps not. Perhaps hand in hand, perhaps just walking side by side. This weekend Eric and I had a lovely few days away from the kids, and we walked everywhere. From the vacation house to town. All around town, from coffee shops to bookstores to cute little boutiques. Through the winding pathways of the rural neighborhood where the vacation house was located.

It was just like being on our honeymoon again. Except that we weren't in England and we're nine years older. But other than that, it totally brought back old times. We used to go for walks all the time. When we were dating, Eric lived in a house with a bunch of other guys, and other random friends tended to drop by and crash on the couch, and it was pretty much just a loud, smelly, people-there-all-the-time kind of place. To get away from all that, we used to just go for walks. For hours--in the rain, in the sun, under the stars--we would walk around and around his neighborhood. And we liked it so much that we kept up the tradition even after we got married and had an apartment all to ourselves.

And then we had kids, and going for a walk became less simple.

I well remember the first time we went for a walk with newborn Beth, sauntering around the streets of the small town where we lived at the time, and when we were still half a mile from home she suddenly started screaming bloody murder. The pacifier would not placate her, being held would not stop her, and there was no convenient place to stop and offer her a feeding. So we just pushed the stroller home as fast as we could, trying to ignore the stares that our screaming infant was attracting to us.

Eventually we got the hang of things, and the baby stopped being so fussy, and going for long walks with the stroller got easier. Once we had Lucy, I upgraded to a double stroller, and I walked for miles with my kiddos every day. Hauling the stroller out and getting it all unfolded and strapping the kids in and making sure you have coats and snacks and a diaper in case of emergencies isn't quite as easy as just heading out the door on your own two feet, but it wasn't bad.

And then somewhere around age 3 and a half, Beth started wanting to walk on her own, instead of riding in the stroller. And the world of walks slowed to a 3-year-old's pace. And the size of our walks shrunk down to what 3-year-old legs could cover before getting tired and whiny. No more hours-long walks for us. Just short little ventures here and there.

And now we have Little Miss Evie, who hates being strapped in to anything, anything at all, for long periods of time. Car seats, booster seats, strollers; they're all fine for a little while, but to attempt a good long walk with her...well, do so at your own risk. You'll do just fine if you don't have ear drums and don't mind being screamed at all the way home.

So we just don't go for long walks very much anymore. Short trips to school and back, or to the nearby park, we can manage. But just heading out on a whim and wandering until you don't feel like walking anymore has sadly become a rare pleasure for us.

I have high hopes for the future, though. Beth is getting more capable. Lucy would probably ride in the stroller until she was 15 if no one said anything about it--she just likes to snuggle up. But if we appeal to her emerging "big girl" status, she's willing to walk awhile too.

This leaves us just Miss Ev. Who frankly doesn't like strollers anyway, and pretty much believes that she's just as big and just as tough as her older sisters. She's almost two, and she still occasionally asks to be held when we're out and about, but give her another year and I'll bet she would drop down dead in her tracks before admitting she can't keep up with the rest of the family.

Maybe...before too long...we'll be a family of walkers again.