We Americans love our cars. Driving — especially in rural America — equates to independence. Turning 16 is a celebrated rite of passage here primarily because that’s when we can legally drive for the first time, flex our independent spirits, and take another big step toward adulthood.

I don’t drive because I’m legally blind. My corrected vision is around 20/200.

To give you an idea of what I can and can’t see, I played football in high school and saw well enough to return kicks and punts, but when I played Little League I only managed to get one hit in four seasons.

If someone in a car waves to me or honks at me while I’m walking down the street, I won’t recognize them. I’m also horrible at remembering faces because I don’t see them as distinctly as others do in the first place, which causes me more than a little embarrassment now and then at parent-teacher conferences. And, of course, I don’t see well enough to pass the eye exam for a driver’s license.

When we lived in Minneapolis, not being able to drive was just fine. We lived as most do in the inner city, walking and taking the bus more often than driving. But Albert Lea has neither the population density nor the public transportation to offer the blind-friendly lifestyle I enjoyed in the city. So we’ve had to adjust since moving here.

One major adjustment I’ve made is how I get to and from work. I now catch a ride to school with a co-worker, and I try to run home four days a week, even through the winter months.

Weather, illness and scheduling issues sometimes keep me from hitting my target of running home four days each week, but I almost always do at least three days. I can take a three-, four- or five-mile route home, but I often opt for the three-mile option because I’m both lazy and often behind schedule. Sometimes I run on the weekends; sometimes I don’t.

I’m not in amazing shape, but I can go for a five-mile run on any given day and experience little to no soreness afterward, which isn’t too shabby for a guy pushing 36.

Since I don’t drive, we chose to buy a home close to essential services.

For example, I can walk a quarter mile to the clinic, and I can walk or ride my bike a mile to the dental office. Living where we do also allows my wife and me to load up our two little girls in the doublewide jogger stroller, walk about a mile to the grocery store, or head downtown to the farmer’s market, while enjoying some conversation and moderate exercise along the way.

Because of my low vision, I’ve adopted a relatively healthy and active lifestyle here that I might not have otherwise. Had I been born with better vision, my family would probably own two cars instead of one, and I’d probably drive by myself to work each day, even though I live close to several of my co-workers.

That I was born with a congenital eye disease was both out of my control and not something most people would consider fortunate at all. But sometimes these chance occurrences offer opportunity and good fortune, even if they don’t appear to at first.

Our community has recently become the fluky recipient of some good fortune, which also has the potential to promote relatively easy but potentially profound healthy lifestyle changes for us. I’m talking about the City Health Makeover from Blue Zones and AARP.

If you haven’t heard about this yet, you can learn more at http://www.bluezones.com/makeover, or attend one of Blue Zone events. One took place just last night at HealthReach.

In short, the Blue Zones model is to borrow key lifestyle habits from the world’s healthiest and longest living populations. We don’t need to work out every day or join a club to be healthier and live longer; instead, we can explore some simple personal and community changes to promote healthier and more active living — one of which is making foot and bicycle travel easier and more convenient in our daily lives.

I support the City Health Makeover for selfish reasons. I’m dependent on foot and bike travel in our city, so I of course would like to see our city maintain and expand our sidewalks and trails.

I also know that regular, moderate exercise is good for my physical and mental health. I’ve already heard and read many cynical comments from Blue Zones critics, comments that have ironically come from people who also tend to criticize Albert Lea for not having enough good press and for not doing enough to promote our community to potential businesses and residents.

I hope these folks and many others open themselves to what the Blue Zones people have to say and see if this can really can make Albert Lea an even better place to live while making ourselves healthier as well.

Jeremy Corey-Gruenes is an English teacher at Albert Lea High School. He is a member of Paths to Peace in Freeborn County.