Wiggle When You Walk?

My sister and my mother both have wandering backs. And by wandering I mean periodically their back will go out and they must spend days in bed until their back returns from wherever it went when it wandered off.

My mother had an operation many years ago to fix whatever deficit was causing her issues. My sister hasn't yet reached that point. Recently, however, her back took another vacation causing her life to be put on hold until she recovered.

Bedbound in agony she moaned to me, "I don't want to lose my strut!"

Her strut. Incapable of standing or bending or lifting or moving, looking good while she walked was forefront in her mind. But I understand where she was coming from. My sister is six feet tall, lithe and moves with what I'd call a glide rather than a strut. Whatever you call it, she's quite graceful and statuesque. I'd not want to lose that either if I had it.

It got me thinking about how I walk. I may have described my usual walk as a plod until I recently observed a woman who really did plod. She wasn't a large woman, but I swear I could feel the earth move every time she took a step. No, evidently I don't plod.

But do I glide? Am I graceful? Do I hold my head up, my shoulders back, stepping lightly but confidently as I move? Do I appear poised and competent, feminine yet strong?

That's what runs through my head these days as I walk.
Because I'd like to do all those things.
It's easier in some shoes than others.
But I rarely strut.

I leave that to my sister.

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