Most memories are associated with stories
recharged, freshened but also altered by many retellings
but there are also snapshots, brief flashes of still, quiet moments
of existing
I sat in a park at night
it wasn’t a park I knew
we’d travelled to get there
to play soccer on one of several soccer fields
the lights in the park were different than any park or street lights I’d seen
They were long, like maybe they held tubes instead of bulbs
they were on poles that curved forward at the top near where the long lights attached
I was aware of being in a distinct era
that would have it’s own distinct kinds of buildings and play structures and streetlights
I felt the sensation of being somewhere foreign
of not knowing what direction home was
I was suddenly and acutely aware of the immense size of the country
the continent
and the world
I looked up at the night sky and at the stars
I was aware of being a small kid
in a park
on a planet
that moment and that feeling of awareness is one I’ve never forgotten
I look back at it as I sit writing
in a different park
in a different era