Where else might you see tiny people taking their first steps, young people having their first kiss and old people just happy to be out and about?
On a recent visit to New York City, I did what any self-respecting and increasingly claustrophobic out-of-towner might do and walked through Central Park. As far as parks go, they aren’t much more famous – or central – than Central Park. A green haven in a grey city that offers everyone – locals, tourists, passersby – a natural respite from the man-made stress.
“Central Park will be a soothing and refreshing sanitary influence,” he wrote. “A relief from ordinary cares that not only gives pleasure for the time being but increases the subsequent capacity for happiness.” Our local park may not be as vast as the one in New York, but compared with the confines of a two-bedroom apartment, it seems grand, especially to a toddler easily impressed by most things. Each visit is another chance to dip into his small but mighty vocabulary: “Wow!”
At the local park, weary parents come together to lick their wounds, keeping half an eye on their kids while rejoicing in the chance to speak to other adults or not speak at all. The upside to being in the everyday, twice-a-day phase of my park life is that this community of strangers has quickly become familiar. Archie has park friends, and so do I, people we only catch up with near the swing set and climbing ropes.
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