I’ve you’ve followed my stories the last few days, you’ve seen me mention my walking stick a few times lately.
https://jeromyalexander.com/2022/12/today-i-will-learn-something-new/
https://jeromyalexander.com/2022/12/too-long-of-a-day/
I did take the time to take a good’ish photo yesterday and although this is not a person to interview, I will share few things about it.
I first received this from my then step-father, my mothers fourth husband, as he was prioritizing his possessions in a yard sale. This might have been between two thousand and ten and two thousand and twelve, or there about.
I may have paid for it, however it was likely a gift. Both my sons were with me when I got it, as I recall them filling their pockets with a few trinkets as well. I had no use for a cane, it simple caught my eye.
So I took it home and there it sat in the corner of my bedroom under a light switch for ten years. In two thousand and twenty-two, I did need to use a cane (after a wheelchair, crutches, and a walker.) I found it to be very practical and with me always when I leave my house.
It reminds me of my mother and step-father and both of my sons. You can see the decorative silver ring around the neck of the eagle carving, that reminds me of my youngest son, as I married his mother. The rubber band was added by my oldest son, to help quiet the jingle of the ring; that band reminds me of him, as I did not marry his mother.
Finally, the staff reminds my of my confirmation saint, St. John the Evangelist, as an eagle is common in iconography of him representing, I believe the high view and eye of wisdom. Also specifically of my pastor, the Pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Jackson, Diocese of Lansing; as on the last Saturday I was in Jackson, after confession, I asked for and received his blessing for my travels and also for a blessing on this walking stick.
No formal blessing from a book, ad-libbed on the spot in the way that God hears best (I believe.) I believe Fathers words might have been along lines of (as I might have been less than clear on the type of blessing I had hoped for) “and bless it to do whatever Jeromy needs it to do”. I had mentioned the phrase “divining rod” and I think I simply meant guidance to test the ground that comes before me and to help me be sure footed spiritually as well as physically.
This is my walking stick, its story and the people it brings to my mind with every step I take.