chasing the sun

Three weeks since my last post, well, nearly that and I have yet to be inspired. Though I can’t help but think that won’t matter much if I can just start writing something…anything.

These past few days of warm weather have been brilliant. Today, in honor of the positive change in the weather, I took a new way home: two buses and a short walk through the park. Currently, I live right near one of the most beautiful parks I have ever seen up-close. Although the city lets it get a bit wild and there’s more than a little trash in some areas, it’s still a gorgeous place to walk, run or relax.

I don’t have many pairs of good durable walking shoes. I proved that earlier today by ruining my favorite pair of strappy sandals on the tough streets of Chicago - I’m often amazed to see women wearing stilettos striding confidently and quickly past me on the sidewalk when I’m only in flip-flops. Anyway, when I finally stepped off the bus and into the park, I yanked off my shredded shoes and made for the freshly mowed grass.

It smelled like spring. The storm clouds were looming but the park was full people daring them to pour rain. I passed an old-fashioned snow-cone stand (that really only means poorly crushed ice and extra strength strawberry concentrate slung into a cheap plastic cup with a little water so you don't go into a sugar coma). There was a small group of kids taking turns in a made-from-scratch hammock consisting of a camouflage tarp and some yellow rope tied between two enormous trees. A group of boys with their shirts and shoes off were playing soccer on the gentle slope of a hill. Two of them were tumbling over each other to be the first to reach the ball.

When I was a kid, I never wore shoes. I grew accustomed to hot sidewalks and even hotter streets. I climbed trees, scaled fences and walked to and from my friends’ houses in only my bare feet. It’s hard to feel so young, but so old at the same time. I don’t feel the freedom I did when I was 10, but then again I probably didn’t feel it when I was 10. Sometimes, it’s only in looking back that we can view things rightly. But I do know one thing for sure…I still don’t care much for wearing shoes…