• After talking with them and hearing how “green” of a life they lived, I felt a little guilty. Compared to them I was definitely not doing enough

    Just last week, after I finished shopping with my 9 year-old daughter, we headed toward the car carrying several bags of groceries. In the parking lot we saw a family of four loading their groceries into the trunk of a surrey, which was parked right next to us. For those of you who are not familiar with a surrey, it’s a light four-wheeled bike (sporting regular bicycle tires) with multiple pedals, sometimes with or without a covering, and usually seats anywhere from two to eight people. You’re most likely to see them down on the boardwalk by the beach or at a tourist bike rental shop. Surreys are extremely fun and very easy to ride—except when you’re going uphill of course. That’s when you turn to the people behind you and yell, “Start pedaling!” It’s a great way to get around town and get some exercise in at the same time.

    Intrigue got the best of me and I just had to go up and talk to this family about their Surrey grocery shopping trip. After talking with them and hearing how ‘green” of a life they lived, I felt a little guilty.  Compared to them I was definitely not doing enough.  I live about five blocks from the market yet drove my car.  When I asked about the Surrey they discussed the benefits of saving money, and how it allowed them to exercise and bond as a family, all the while helping out the environment. Not a bad deal, I thought. There were many times I’d thought about riding my bike to work or to run errands yet discarded the idea because of convenience and laziness.

    We had a great time, got to talk and bond a little and it helped slow things down in this fast pace world

    Meeting this family inspired my daughter and me so much that we came home and talked about it over dinner with the rest of the family. I’m not an extremist by any stretch of the imagination and don’t believe in extremism in any aspect of life. However, I knew that there were many things that we could improve upon.  I thought that we could at least make a more concerted effort to be more active as a family.  So, this week we gave it a shot and walked to the grocery store as a family. We had a great time, got to talk and bond a little and it helped slow things down in this fast pace world. We plan on doing more physical activities as a family like yard work, riding our bikes to the park and walking wherever possible. Yes, sometimes it may take a little longer to get things done, but the benefits are well worth taking the extra time!