It has become a kind of ritual, a sanity rescuer, a last ditch attempt at restoring equilibrium to the family. We go to the park.
It doesn’t seem to matter if there is play equipment or not – often stumps jutting out of the ground provide a rich backdrop to the ninja-style imaginary games of the boys. They go adventuring, discovering new species, bending down to notice bugs and butterflies, wrestling and tumbling in the grass until they itch all over.
Stepping outside our walls provides an instant perspective change. There is a world out here that won’t collapse if I don’t do everything on my ‘to-do list’ today. The fresh air shocks sense into me and enlivens relationships that were bordering on civil war.
Ice-cream cones in hand, we tumbled out of the house after dinner one night – taking little steps down the street to discover adventure. What usually becomes ‘crazy hour’ in our own zone suddenly shifts to become a dimension of playfulness – of being present in our own bodies again. We choose to reboot.
This post is part of both #Write31Days and the Five Minute Friday challenge that I’m participating in along with a talented community of other writers. We free write for five minutes (or more) guided by a prompt. Today’s prompt is ‘park’.
For more information on 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes, check out Christina Hubbard’s site!
