Jaracka Park

After the lovely Spanish Club I am teaching, I decided to go for a run. I ran to my old neighborhood. The neighborhood I grew up in. The neighborhood my mother grew up in. The neighborhood that has many great memories buried in it's streets.

I love running here. I get a sense of nostalgia as I run down the streets, reminiscing of times that I rode my bike, or even ran, down those same streets as a youngin. Memories of childhood flood back to me. The happy childhood I had.

Running through the neighborhood park, I could see myself as a tyke, playing on the swings and trying to makes shots at the basket, way too high at that point. But I noticed, at that point, those nice, sweet, innocent memories were being pushed out of my mind. I had ruined the sanctity of Jaracka Park in my high school days. The park is now a tainted memory in a way, for the last night before I left for college a few friends and I celebrated the way high school kids do. It's unfortunate now, that I am damn near 30, that that memory trumps the childhood ones when I run through that park. If I had only known back at 18 that those actions would stick in my mind forever.

This got me thinking, since I do my best thinking while I am running, about other places where memories are trumped by a one time occurrence. My mind immediately jumped to the gym at the college Jeff and I both attended. Well, not the gym, but the basement of the gym which housed the men's locker room, the laundry facilities, and a small, additional weight room. 

Many days and nights were spent down there lifting weights, running, jumping on boxes, and watching game film. However, one specific event sticks out in my mind when I think of that lovely place. It is only different from Jaracka Park because it does not mar the memories of the gym. It enhances it. No further details. Think of it what you want! 

I don't know if the comparison is fair. Jeff was not a part of my life in the Jaracka Park days. That is probably the one part of my childhood I would change. I would have loved, been privileged really, to have had Jeff in my life during my childhood. Oh, and I would have liked to have a dog too. But, since I cannot change that, I must realize that any memory with Jeff will never be one viewed as tainted. Simply something to smile about.