You'll soon forget that there's any other place

Evan and I were up in Erie today for a few hours while Mike worked a rare Saturday at the college. My dear son and I didn't like the idea of spending the whole day at home without Daddy, so we headed north for a bit of shopping and play time outside at Grandpa's. It was warm and sunny and we enjoyed a very pleasant afternoon.

My dad and I played ball and ran around the yard with Ev for a few hours, and we also took him across town to my grandmother's house to visit the ducks and rabbit. We finished the day at the playground behind Chestnut Hill--a favorite spot of mine when I was a kid. It's a totally different place than it was then. The big wooden play structures have been replaced with sleek colored metal tubing and plastic slides--an improvement, but definitely not what I remember (I carved my name above the monkey bars once--now it's gone).

Ev and I went to that playground a few times last summer and he had fun, but was a little small for some of the equipment. Not so today, as he was able to manage almost everything with no help from me. He climbed and jumped and slid and ran, and it was easy to see how much he has grown over the last few months. He even used the big kid swings instead of those baby bucket ones (though, to be fair, he used those too).

It was so strange to be at that playground with my father and my son today. My dad could still see my brothers playing there when they were small, and I remembered the picnics that Penny, Julie, Cara and I used to have at the top of the wooden castle. And I could see a younger Evan too, so unsure of himself and needing someone to help him up the ladder, changing into this confident Evan who can do it all by himself.

How many summers have passed since I used to play there, that now my son does? Sometimes I just can't believe it. I pointed to J.S. and told Evan, "that's where Mommy went to school". That parking lot is where Mommy and Daddy had their first kiss too, but I think I'll wait until Ev's a little older to share that one with him. It's nice to be so close to those memories, that they can still be part of my life. Our little corner of the world, to share with our parents and our children. I feel very lucky for that.