Michael Nardone didn’t only walk the sidewalks and streets of Ridgefield, Connecticut

 

Ridgefield resident, Dana Bucci was always curious about the man she, and so many others, affectionately called, “Walking Mike”.  But, it wasn’t in Ridgefield where Bucci and Michael Nardone had their first conversation.

Bucci recognized a beloved, rhythmic cadence in a place she calls her “happy place”.

“My family has a  vacation home in Woodstock, Vermont,” says Bucci.

“I was walking through the center of Woodstock with a friend when I spotted a gentleman walking briskly in downtown Woodstock - I knew that gait!” says Bucci.  “The height, the figure, the man who warms my heart when I see him walking through Ridgefield,” adds Bucci.

Michael Nardone, four hours north of Ridgefield in the in the historic New England town of Woodstock? Did he grace the sidewalks there too?

“I yelled, Walking Mike. He stopped and looked around,” recalls Bucci.

Bucci ran up to him, and hugging him said, “You’re Walking Mike from Ridgefield.”  

“He laughed in a modest way and said, Yes, I think I am,” says Bucci.

Bucci introduced herself to Michael Nardone as being a fan from his hometown of Ridgefield. “I told him that I have never been happier to see him,” says Bucci. “In my favorite place in the world, I finally got what I wanted… to meet and know Walking Mike,” she adds.

Michael Nardone told Bucci that he takes his family to Woodstock every year. “I had no idea that I shared something so special with the man that is so special to me,” says Bucci.

Bucci said she cried when she learned about Michael Nardone’s battle with Multiple Myeloma.

“I hope and pray that I will see that gleeful gait in Ridgefield and Woodstock, VT, again soon,” says Bucci.

 

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Submitted by Ridgefield, CT

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