One beautiful day, while walking with FreeWalkers on the Connecticut East Coast Greenway (ECG), the desire to keep going all the way to Canada came over me. I spoke about it with my friends and the more I played with the idea, the bigger my smile became.
Suddenly, my friend Ian Hochstead bent down, picked up a coin and said "Look Loredana! It's a Canadian penny." Overjoyed, with a theatrical reaction, I said "It's a sign! Now I must walk all the way to Canada to return the coin."
During that same walk I met Ken Kurland who had the same dream of exploring the ECG to the Canada-US border at Calais, Maine. In fact, Ken and Nancy Jonap were already planning the next segment of the walk. I joined them and together we arrived in Providence.
I'm filled with joy thinking about the privilege I have to admire the beauty of America one step at the time.
Author Paulo Coelho wrote "When you really want something, the world conspires to make a dream come true".
I'm grateful to Ken, Nancy, FreeWalkers and the ECG for helping me with my dream. One day I may be able to return the coin. :)
Loredana lives in New York City and has been a FreeWalker for over 7 years. She is the founder of a non-profit Knitting Without Borders, which provides hand-crafted teddy bears to sick children around the world. Her indomitable spirit inspires us all.
