VANCOUVER, B.C. — Rather than taking a picture of the scenery, Melanie Bouchard is focusing her camera on her son walking on the beach. “He walks everywhere,” Melanie says, smiling. “He loves to walk.” But this short walk along the water is nothing compared to Felix’s first big one a few years ago, after he asked his mom if he and his friend could walk to another town 20 kilometres away. Melanie said yes. And then, after Felix walked all the way there, he decided to keep going. “They walked 70 kilometres,” Melanie says with a laugh. “Seven-zero!” While we wait for Felix to return from his current walk, to find out why he walked 15 hours that day (more than 100,000 steps), Melanie says her son also walked to his high school prom, which took more than seven hours. “He arrived there sweaty in shorts, and everybody is like, ‘Is your son really wearing that?’” Melanie recalls. “And I’m like, ‘No. I have his change of clothes!’” He changed into a suit that night. But when we finally meet on this day, Felix says there’s no need to change his beyond-broken-in walking shoes. “I glued them this week because they are so worn out,” Felix says before showing where he used crazy glue to reattach the sole. If you ask why he glued them, he’ll wonder why someone would throw out something that can be so easily fixed. And if you ask why he didn’t get a ride to prom, Felix will wonder why someone would drive when you can simply walk. “At the prom (the other students) always want to come in fancy cars,” Felix says. “Why would you do that? So, I just decided to walk.’” Which proved — like all his big walks — to be both exhausting and exhilarating. “It was the best feeling of accomplishment I can have,” Felix smiles. “I was the only one that did this.” But everyone can benefit from walking everywhere, Felix told his mom after he completed that first big walk. He said he experienced countless wonderful things along the way he wouldn’t have otherwise. “He says he saw the sunrise, the sunset, and two rabbits,” Melanie recalls, smiling again. And on this day that Melanie is taking photos of Felix seeing the ocean, boats, and countless birds, his mom couldn’t be more proud that her son taught her the benefits of making appreciation your primary form of transportation. “We don’t have to spend money and do big activities,” Melanie says. “You can just be outside (and) admire life.”
