365 Days (Part 2) | ✓

248. At the Park

248. At the Park: Take some time to sit on a park bench and write about the sights, scenes, and senses and emotions you experience.

I remember...

When I was younger, and we would visit my granny in her tiny town of a smacking 1300 people, where everything was old, but familar and loved, because it felt like granny.

I remember...

Pleading with my daddy: "Please take us to the park! When can we go to the park?" Granny's house was designed more to host her bridge club than entertain two young children.

I remember...

The drive, sitting next to my brother, and planning what we would play, as we rolled smoothly down the streets.

I remember...

The park, superior to the ones we had back home. We would climb aboard the jungle gym and almost fly on the swings. It was huge, and loomed above me; I was delighted that it was so large.

I remember...

Leaving too soon, and always before we were tired of playing.

I remember...

These faint memories in the back of my mind. They dwelt more as impressions than concrete things. I remember wanting to to to the park, I remember thinking it was large, and I remember the disappointment in leaving.

But now... Now it's different.

*

Granny said there was a disc golf course where she liked to go walking. My family, enjoying golf, decided to buy some frisbees and try it out. It was a small town, and the ride took less than five minutes. As we walked in, I saw a playground. It didn't look familiar to me, but --

"We used to take you there all of the time," Dad said.

I looked at it and memories rushed back. So this was the place. It was just a playground, with swings and slides. I wonder when it stopped looking so special.

"It's a lot smaller than I remember it," I observed.

My family laughed, but I was struck by how things have changed in the years since I had played on that playground. I wanted to go back there and play for one last time, for I am sure that I never knew the last time I played on it was the last time. The sentimental part of me wanted to say a proper goodbye.

*

In case you're wondering, I failed epically at disc golf. Par was 3? My score tallied 23! About a fourth of the way through the course, my frisbee fell into a ditch and I lost it.