Parks and Memories

Took the kids to the park today. It is super lovely outside with a nice breeze breaking through the lingering summer sunshine. The park we went to is the same one I remembering playing at when I was a kid. It has better play equipment, but the layout is still the same with two arched bridges going over the creek, and a nice set of connected trails.

It brought back so many memories of being a kid and the way I felt at the time. I didn't have the best childhood, by far, but I do remember the good times and moments at that park would be qualified as good times. The 70's were such an organic era; pure, yet tainted with just a hint of the chaos to come. Grass was green, but not too green. People had long natural hair and bell bottomed jeans. Older men wore clothes like Ward Cleaver, and they smoked and it was considered just fine. RC cola tabs were on the ground and you walked over them with no sense of being bothered, but then when you cut your foot on one, your mom just got out the iodine, you screamed, and then went back to playing.

It may seem irrational, but even the sky seemed bluer back then. And there was so much empty land to run around on that it made you feel whole inside and you knew like if you ever needed to run forever, you could and nothing would ever hold you in.

One thing I remember in particular about my childhood is how big the cars were. Not big like today's cars, I'm talking about just tons of pure metal and long, long hoods. We had one of those old cars that could fit all three of us kids in the backseat- and no, there weren't any booster seats- and it was hot, hot vinyl in the summertime. That stuff was seriously dangerous, but it sparkled in the sunlight.

Are you still here reading this? You are? Amazing. Okay, well, I think I'm done writing for now. Shine on.