Park or Paradise?

The large park had been built: the neighborhood had been teeming with families. To the small child or small dog, it may seem like a vast field of endless grass and at one point, the Del Oro park did feel that way to me. When I was younger I used to play at the playground every afternoon after school. As I got older, I spent hours there for soccer practice during the week and early morning games on the weekends. Years have passed but the park hasn’t changed any, it’s still the same as it was when I was five, ten, and fifteen.

The park itself was never much, only 3.44 acres, but it was a place to go and run and forget about everything for a while. The grass might have always been slightly overgrown, no matter how many times it was mowed with one of those tractor mowers, and after a rainstorm it was always muddy. There were spots of dead and dry brown grass spread throughout and yellow and white dandelions popped up at every turn. Flowers of all kinds – wild and common, bright and dull, dark and light – were scattered all around. Birch and pine trees line the east side of the park, providing the perfect amount of shade on a hot summer day. A concrete path circling the park and eventually becoming sidewalk is shaded by a dozen large pine trees rooted into the ground after many years, providing the shade for the bushes on the ground level. Even animals enjoyed a nice day at the park. Chirping, soaring, pecking – the birds went about their daily routine; while passer byers watched the red Robins land gracefully in the trees and take care of their chicks.

While the field itself is used mostly for recreational purposes, it isn’t the only thing Del Oro has to offer. Further back in the park is a green and tan play structure for the young children in the neighborhood, complete with two slides and plenty of steps and things to climb. The light brown shredded tan bark provides a cushioning landing in case of any falling, and it eases the parents’ worries as they sit on one of the dark green park benches with one on each side of the play structure. Next to the play structure, enclosed in an eight foot high wire fence with some copper rust spots, are two tennis courts. The courts themselves aren’t much, faded green with faded white lines and scattered leaves from the surrounding trees, but it makes a perfect place to hit a few shots with some friends. Further back still are a few trees that look like nothing more than twigs held together once all their leaves have turned red and brown and have fallen off. Underneath these trees lie three concrete circles, each with a picnic bench on them, creating the perfect scene for a summer day’s lunch with friends or family.

Summer. Winter. Spring. Fall. All spent at the park at one point or another. During the warm summer months, the cool of the grass is almost as refreshing as a drink of water and sitting under the large birch tree gives the perfect view of the whole park allowing someone to see the whole park. From the little kids playing on the playground and the parents sitting on the benches and the athletes in the tennis courts and the dog owners and the dogs themselves; you can see them all. During the fall the scent of the fresh mowed grass picks up every time the three o’clock wind blows, and the cheers of eager parents rooting for their kids echoing through the open field. In the winter the early morning frost buries the grass under a white sheet, and the fog hangs just above the tallest blade of grass. As winter becomes spring, the park changes again going from an icy field to a muddy one after one quick rainstorm. A few months later and the process repeats itself.

Del Oro park always seemed to change, yet it always stayed the same. From the warmth of the sun to the brisk of the autumn wind, from the hot plastic slides to the frozen blades of grass, and from cool picnics to hot cups of chocolate. Warm summer days were spent under a large birch tree cooling down in the shade after playing on the structure for an hour or two in hot July sun. Fall afternoons spent rushing into the wind chasing down the soccer ball, running up and down the field, kicking up grass and leaves or walking past it every day after school. Even if it was in a trivial way, Del Oro park managed to impact my life.

-- Katie D