Melanie cocked her head just to the left and snatched a quick glance at me. “You know you are the oldest one here,” she whispered, “and I’m the next.”
As I gazed around at the jostling crowd pushing the traffic around Crown Point Square, I didn’t need to guess their ages. Of course, she was right. These were largely teenagers, sprinkled with pre-teens and an occasional millennial. “Yeah, I know.”
Later there was a man possibly in his 50’s walking with his son, his own smart phone in his hand beckoning us across the street. “We have the light, you know,” he called as he waved his arm at us. Traffic was heavy with vehicles making lefts in front of us, pedestrian crossing or no, in their hurry to get to the next PokéStop. It was pushing 10 pm on a fairly temperate Wednesday evening and Mel sighed, “I really didn’t expect this much traffic.”
No one did–this was crazy. Especially for me! My mother used to say when I was in my 60s that it was the youth of old age. I can no longer claim the “youth” status and opined to Melanie that there would be no way I’d be out there by myself if she hadn’t joined me in this insane venture to see what all the clamor was about. We’ve been running fairly even, though she started the game after I, catching on to the many nuances faster and bestowing upon me the mentor role. (Thank you!) 
When I wrote before, I’d just started the game and had no clue what I was doing. Having played the game now for two weeks, I can report it’s far more intricate than I could have imagined and I still have no clue what I’m doing. My biggest problem is being perpetually short of balls, gleaned from those PokéStops, which are easily found at most churches and libraries. Our local Holy Spirit Catholic Church posted on their marquee, “Welcome to Pokémon GO Players.” (When I went out to take a picture of the sign today, they’d changed it in favor of Pope Francis.)
However, I’ll drop some stats on you and update from time to time. Now at Level 12, I’ve captured 47 of 143 Pokémon. (But the internet says there are 151?) My walks continue to be fairly slow, but now the dog isn’t the only one coming back from them with a grin on her face.
This may very well be a new low for me. Or is it a new high? ©2016 Virginia Williams
Rosepoint Publishing 
We go on GO walks with the kids. I go on GO walks with coworkers. Long story short, GO has gotten me walking more than any other recent motivator. I love it! And I love how it’s spanning every generation and bringing people together in neighborhoods. I’ve seen stories online of cops playing it with kids at the park. I read a story about how it brings kids on the Autism spectrum out of their shell and helps them interact with others. Seriously, whatever magic that is, I’m glad they bottled it!
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Thank you, Shanan, loved ur comments and don’t feel so bad now! Also love ur term “GO walks”. May I use it? (I’ll give u credit.)
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Of course! LOL
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