Parks (and kids from 1 to 92)

I just realized that it's been a couple of weeks since I've posted anything.  Much has transpired in those two weeks which I will tell about at a future date.

However, right now I wanted to blog about parks.  I have alot of great memories of parks and will post a few of those here.  My first memory of a park comes from when I was 3 years old.  My Dad was stationed at Hill Air Force Base n Utah and we lived in Clearfield.  Right behind our home was a park.  I still remember my Mom taking my through the gate in our back fence to go to the park.  While I don't remember alot of playtime at the park what I do remember is my kind Mother taking me to the park.

In time we moved into base housing at Hill and there were two awesome parks there (gone now due to newer housing being built and the old neighborhood being demolished).  One of the parks was right along the fence on the east side of the runway.  I remember being at the park and watching the jets come and go (I'm fascinated with airplanes for those that don't know).  The other park was in the middle of our housing area and I remember playing there one day and coming home to find my Mom and brother gone.  I remember that the t.v. was on and MASH was playing, but my Mom was nowhere to be found.  I still remember as a 5 year old just crying because my Mom was gone.  When she came home I remember her telling me that she was on one side of the park watching me and calling to me as I started to leave for home but I didn't hear her.  (Wow, maybe I should have called this post Parks and my Mom - she is one of my best friends).

I remember also going to a park with my Mom and my Aunt Linda and my aunt would push me on the swing and when she would push me she would run under the swing.  I thought that was the coolest thing.

The next memory I have of a park is going to the Payson City parks.  I remember going there often with my Mom and Aunt Karen and my siblings and cousins.  The old equipment has been replaced with this modern plastic stuff but the old park had this cool candy-cane colored metal slide that was of a corkscrew fashion.  I remember years later trying to go down that slide and wondered how I was every small enough to fit down in. 

Santaquin City park on the west end of Santaquin brings another historical snapshot of being a Cub Scout and having a homemade kite flying contest.  I built a box kite like the book showed but I don't think it flew.  Oh well, as painful as that was, it was a growing experience.

While this next clip doesn't take place in a park it does pertain to a swing set which you find in parks.  A block from the home where my family lived in Delta was the South Elementary.  They had some swings there that even fit high school sized kids.  I dated a very nice girl in Delta and we used to walk over there and just talk and swing back and forth for hours. 

Time marches on and it has been my privilege to take my own children to different parks.  There is a really nice park in South Ogden where I took my children just last Friday afternoon.  I was excited by the the joy in my children's faces as they enjoyed the park.  I remember taking my oldest, Alma, there when he was younger and somehow it has been nicknamed "Alma's Park" by my children.  We all had so much fun.  The girls were pretending that the playground equipment was some sort of ocean area.  I think was supposed to be a dolphin but I'm not sure I did a very good job.  But it was the time spent there with my children that mattered. 

So, you might be asking why the title addition "and kids from 1 to 92".  Well, parks hold a place for all of us.  I look forward to finding some swings big enough for adults and jumping on and talking with my special someone.  And as our hair turns to silver and the skin starts to wrinkle I hope to go for walks through the park, holding hands, talking, and maybe enjoying an ice-cream all while knowing "This Is Our Time....Liv(ing) every moment, leaving nothing to chance."