Park Day

I have always thought of myself as introspective.  Much of my life it has been more of a curse than a blessing, but a strong personality trait, none the less.  I frequently remind myself that life is not so strange if you “just don’t think about it so much.”  People have remarked my entire life that I should appreciate a particular moment, event, or person because I will miss it if I am not careful.  I always smile to myself and think….”I know, I know, I have been stewing over that for weeks now.”
One of the most vivid memories I have of such an occasion took place the summer after the ninth grade.  My hometown school system kept the ninth graders in Junior High and the tenth through twelfth graders moved up to high school.  I remember waking up one morning after anxiously anticipating what High School would be like and what would be different than elementary and junior high.  I had spent the night with my best friend and we woke up talking about such things.
There were several things we were excited about….off campus lunch and driving, even though neither of us would be sixteen until the very end of our sophomore year, football games, parties…..a lot of parties, preparing for college.  The list goes on and on, but one thing really stuck out as something we would miss.  A day with no agenda that we could just “play” outside.
Playing outside, Manhunt, riding our bikes, making up games, picnics, catching crawdads, Champlin Park had been staples of our childhood.  We could leave as soon as we woke up, check in at lunch, and we had to be home when the streetlights came on that evening.  I remember laying under basketball goals for hours talking about nothing.  I remember banging on my friend’s window to wake her up so we could get started with our adventures.  I also remember sneaking out that window to get in a few extra hours of aimless play.
Even as I look back on this time, nearly twenty years later.  I feel nostalgic and almost teary.  I felt my childhood slipping away and although I had so much to look forward to I knew I would miss it.
What would normal teenagers do with this feeling?  I have no idea.  I know I am not necessarily the norm.  What did we do?  We declared it Park Day.  There was no agenda and not really any discussion.  We just gathered a few supplies and headed to the neighborhood park.  We road the teeter-totter, the swings, the slide, and the merry-go-round.  We played croquet and then we just sat and talked about nothing.  I remember even then feeling compelled to take my camera and shoot some pictures of the day.  How many people can say they have pictures of their last day of being a kid?  Most of all I recall walking across the park on the way home.  I wanted to turn around and run back to the swings and stay there forever.  Then we hit the sidewalk, things were looking up.  By the time we crossed over to the island, where the streets merged to get to my house, I was okay.
We never really talked about this day again.  We laughed at ourselves when we finally got the pictures developed.  Several weeks later, I am sure.  However, the sentiment of the day has stuck with me all these years.  Every summer I think about this day and now that I am a parent I make special effort to give my children time to just be kids.  It is one of the best gifts my parents ever gave me.  Thanks Mom and Ivana for not taking us to the mall every time we asked!! 

Just in case you think I made this up…..here are a couple of pics!

I think we played croquet because we were really into Heathers.

What days of your childhood are most vivid????