My old tree friend
Today was a whirlwind day at work to put it simply. There's some changes going on and I ended my day with packing up my desk and moving it to a new corner of the office. I started wondering if that's why I've been so gung-ho about Spring getting here -- I'm looking for some change. On the way home I made a sudden decision to swing by to visit a really odd piece of my past.
This may seem like just a normal tree in the park to most people, but to me, it has a strong significance. During the summers of my childhood instead of being shipped off to camp, my community had a program where the kids would spend their days in the Fleetwood park playing sports and board games and making various crafts. To be honest, the game shed was pitiful and I could only glue pom poms on construction paper so many times before I lost interest. So many summer days were spent in the mass pile of dirt under this tree, building ant villages with my schoolmate Alex, who lived 3 blocks up from me.
Many years later I was a complete loner in high school trying to find my place after my best friend's family moved to Colorado to get a new start after her father's suicide. Alex had approached me one day because he'd grown a sudden interest in anime, which was really underground back then, and he knew I was the only person to go to about it. It wasn't long before Alex and I started dating, and for the next 6 years of my life I thought I knew the man I was going to marry, and the only man I'd ever be with. For my 19th birthday, he even bought me my first dot com. But time changes people. One day we're in his parent's house bonding over Pokemon and articles on X-Entertainment and the next I'm at his apartment wondering where the entertainment center went and why there's a tent in the middle of the bedroom. The last time I spoke to Alex, he told me he was selling all his stuff and moving to a hippy commune. He did it, too.
I've changed a lot since then, to the point people who knew me years ago are fairly shocked at how I went from a wallflower with a rebellious streak to a strong woman surrounded by loving friends. So yeah, I have a life and a career that I totally love, but I think I could still go for some change.
This may seem like just a normal tree in the park to most people, but to me, it has a strong significance. During the summers of my childhood instead of being shipped off to camp, my community had a program where the kids would spend their days in the Fleetwood park playing sports and board games and making various crafts. To be honest, the game shed was pitiful and I could only glue pom poms on construction paper so many times before I lost interest. So many summer days were spent in the mass pile of dirt under this tree, building ant villages with my schoolmate Alex, who lived 3 blocks up from me.
Many years later I was a complete loner in high school trying to find my place after my best friend's family moved to Colorado to get a new start after her father's suicide. Alex had approached me one day because he'd grown a sudden interest in anime, which was really underground back then, and he knew I was the only person to go to about it. It wasn't long before Alex and I started dating, and for the next 6 years of my life I thought I knew the man I was going to marry, and the only man I'd ever be with. For my 19th birthday, he even bought me my first dot com. But time changes people. One day we're in his parent's house bonding over Pokemon and articles on X-Entertainment and the next I'm at his apartment wondering where the entertainment center went and why there's a tent in the middle of the bedroom. The last time I spoke to Alex, he told me he was selling all his stuff and moving to a hippy commune. He did it, too.
I've changed a lot since then, to the point people who knew me years ago are fairly shocked at how I went from a wallflower with a rebellious streak to a strong woman surrounded by loving friends. So yeah, I have a life and a career that I totally love, but I think I could still go for some change.
Aww, that's a sweet story. It's great to get stronger (happened to me too.) Now I can't imagine not voicing my opinion when something affects me. It feels great, doesn't it?
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