A walk in the park
Writing by treason on Saturday, 26 of May , 2007 at 12:03 pm
It’s Memorial Day weekend and everyone knows what that means: three days off and some blow-out sales at the mall. I have a sense that too many people think this is actually Labor Day weekend… or even Veterans Day weekend… just one of those interchangeable three-day weekends that seem to crop up every few months. With WWII vets dying off in such great numbers and fewer cities holding Memorial Day events and parades, how is the average person supposed to know the significance of this holiday?
A good place to start is at a memorial. It’s where T and I found ourselves last night, and I’m ashamed to admit it but it was completely unintentional. We were taking a shortcut to our destination, next to a library, and found ourselves in the middle of a quiet, beautifully landscaped park with winding pathways and small benches tucked in tranquility. A cottontail, nibbling at grass, stopped to look up at us, then continued chewing.
“What is this place?”
And then we saw the walls of the monument. It appears we were standing in the middle of Rio Rancho’s Veterans Monument Park, a still garden of expertly maintained, colorful xeric native species, all carefully placed there by local Master Gardeners. I moved closer to the walls and saw that they held memorial bricks and plaques honoring the veterans and commemorating the series of conflicts in our nation’s short history. There was a plaque for the Revolution and one dated for 1812; plaques for the Civil and the uncivil; for the World Wars and the Spanish-American and Korean; a plaque for Lebanon, a plaque for Grenada, for Bosnia, and for Somalia. Someone had placed a small white geranium at the base of the main wall.
“I had no idea this was here.”
And I should have. More and more, I’m noticing memorials in other places: trees at the larger city and even smaller neighborhood parks now have plaques at their base, dedicated to those who have died, serving in our military. Trees are now specifically planted for this purpose and I always take a moment to read the plaques and say the names aloud.
I’m paying more attention to parks these days, always looking for an interesting spot to take the dog. And I’ve noticed more people are using the parks. There are those, like me, who are there with their dogs, and those who bring their children. Older people sit and watch; some find a quiet spot to read or have a cigarette. Families arrange barbeques, parties, and games. People stop under trees, on a break from work, for a little fresh air and a solitary lunch. Sometimes I’ll sit and swing for a while. We’ve noticed others doing this, too. We saw a woman park her car, walk to the swings, and stay there a very long time.
“Why is that?,” T asked.
“If you liked swings, you’d know.”
I like swings and I like these parks. I like neighborhoods that have parks – parks that I’d never really thought much about until recently. So many are like hidden treasures, nestled away, secrets to be discovered quite by accident.
We stumbled across a lovely one this week and intend to visit again.
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