By the time we reached the starting point of our journey we were huffing and puffing, mostly from anxiety and maybe from lack of exercise. We decided to sit on a nearby bench for a minute or two to regain our faculties. What great shape we were in! As I gazed across the pond I thought to myself that only a fool would attempt to walk around it. A few years previous, a trail had been blazed around the pond for joggers and exercise freaks, with stations set up every few yards that predicted various exercises one could do if one was so inclined. Neither my friend nor I were in good physical shape...I personally hadn't walked the length of myself in twelve years and my friend wasn't a long-distance walker either.
Well, enough of this sitting around - putting off the inevitable. We must get on with the job at hand. We slowly rose from the bench and started walking until we came to a pretty, rustic bridge. Crossing it really threw our equilibrium out of whack but that was nothing new for us. We were now on the south side of the pond and approaching the first exercise station. This one stated that we should do a number of knee bends. We stood and looked at it and decided that unless we wanted to walk the circumference of the pond in a squat position, it would be best to pass on this one.
On we walked, getting farther and farther away from the rustic bridge. We were also going farther and farther into the brush.I looked around me and began to feel very uneasy. The air was very still and I was afraid. I wanted to quit right then and there. I didn't know what lay around the next bend and to be honest, I didn't want to know. If we turned back at this point, although we would have a distance to go, at least I knew where we were going.
I suggested to my friend that we should turn back and when she hesitated I had the feeling that she was eager to forge ahead. I also knew that she would go back with me but I would feel guilty if I deprived her of the opportunity to accomplish her goal. Casting a disgusted look in her direction,we continued on.
The farther we went, the more uneasy I became. I might mention here that I have an awful fear of bees and I'm certain that earlier that day the bees had a summit meeting and made the announcement that I would be in that area that day, because every wild flower had a fat bee sitting on top of it. Well, that's how it looked to me! Dragonflies came at us from all sides like dive bombers coming in for an attack and if there had been any onlookers that day who had taken a course in Martial Arts, I would have been asked to show my black belt as my footwork was astounding and my hand gestures and yells were like something out of a Kung Fu movie.
We continued to pass the exercise stations and continued to ignore them but one in particular caught my eye. It showed a guy with his leg pulled half-way up his back.Just the thought of attempting to do this one sent shivers up my spine. You would hear bones cracking from across the pond!
We finally reached what we thought was the halfway point in our journey. Now, any knowledgeable PD sufferer knows that that's a crucial point. We could either turn back, forge ahead or swim across the pond. If we attempted the latter our fears would be over as one mouthful of water would result in instant death by pollution. We decided to go forward.
I needed a cigarette and I needed it badly. My nerves were frayed! Have you ever tried to light a cigarette with trembling hands on a calm day? It's not easy,is it? Try it on a windy day while stuck in the middle of nowhere with a lighter that had died a week ago. I needed matches! My friend frantically dug through her purse and came up with some. She uses them to light candles should we have a power outage... Well, she'll never use that particular box of matches again. 
Match after match was lit but the wind kept blowing it out. Curse after curse flew from from my mouth. I had to get that cigarette lit! Then my learned friend suggested that maybe a squat position might bring about some results. I'm sure it would! There was nothing I would have enjoyed more at that moment than squatting her head between my hands. She must have read my mind because she reminded me that if I followed through with what I was thinking, I would have to continue on alone. Maybe if I just roughed her up a little! But no, I wasn't being fair. It wasn't her fault we were in this situation. She didn't drag me here. We were good buddies, right? I'll let her have it as soon as we get out of here!
I finally got my cigarette lit and, puffing furiously,we continued on. My legs were beginning to feel weak and my heart was beating rapidly. I could see that my friend was also experiencing several symptoms. Her breathing was becoming laboured and she was looking a little green around the gills. Is there an end to this trail? Will we wander in this maze until we drop and our remains found days later? I can see the headlines now, "Two Agoraphobics Finally Recovered!" We do want to recover but isn't that just a bit drastic? Oh God! Get me safely out of here and I'll never ask for another favor from You for as long as I live!
As we rounded the next bend we couldn't believe our eyes at the beautiful sight we saw in the distance. Humans! Living and moving people. We had finally reached civilization. We had walked three quarters of the distance around the pond. Now all we had to do was walk the rest of the way which would be a lot easier as we were out of the woods and could walk back along the roadside. But we needed to rest a few minutes before we continued on. We spied a bench in the distance and flopping down on it, we gave a giant sigh of relief. Our throats were parched so we opened our drinks and let the liquid flow freely down our throats. Next came the raisin squares. We were like two starving vultures! One would think that we had just found our way out of the Amazon jungle. Cars and trucks sped by but we were oblivious to it all.
For quite some time we didn't speak...then, as one, we looked at each other and cried, "We did it!"I may have embellished a little while writing this, but I'm allowed to do that. What really matters is that we were two agoraphobics who set out to prove to ourselves that we could walk around the pond and we did. If someone had told me a few months back that I would do this, chances are that I would have laughed at them. I didn't take into account the determination and guts that an agoraphobic possesses. You have to believe in yourself and know that you are capable of doing wonderful things despite adversity.
Eileen
