WALKING IN THE PARK

Sometimes, I like to reminisce, so I go to my old neighborhood, where I grew up as a kid. I drive by my old house, were we played ball in the street... and street hockey. I go to my old school and sit on the steps. Its where we all played in the playground, and where we sat after school until it was way past curfew. I drive by old friends houses, who I haven't spoken to in ages. I don't even know if they still live there. I walk through the park, the one I went to day camp with my brother at. It was a place where me and my friends played hockey. It was where the new field house was such a big thing in the neighborhood. We were all really proud of that fact. My park was the biggest thing in the world. The tree under which I first made out with Kim as a kid isn't there anymore. We used to go roller skating at the rink in Norridge, but that place was torn down to build a multi-plex theater. And we went bowling at the Brunswick Bowl, which has also been torn down. A lot has changed, but the good times... they were all there... in the back of my mind.

I enjoy walking at night, with all the lights from the ball fields still lit, and the jogging path all empty. I don't think we knew what crime was back then. It was more like kids pulling pranks. Gangs were just a group of us playin around outside a place we shouldn't have been. Now its people shooting other people for territory. Drive-by's and drugs. We did our share of smokin up... but it was never as hard core as it is today... None of my friends would have thought that we would ever look at cocaine, let alone crack. Or heroine? What the heck was that??? Crystal Meth, another thing I never heard of!

Friends were friends... you thought you would grow old with. But I don't think I talk to a single one of them for over a decade ... Once I went to High School, they were my past. And once I finished High School, those friends were my past. I guess if I lived in a small town, I would have stronger commitments from old friends, but I live in a big City, where everybody minds their own business, everybody is busy looking after themselves, and nobody has time for you.

A gallon of milk was really cheap! We drank it like water... *(which my teeth are so strong and not falling out of my mouth today). We bought bread 3 loaves for a buck, and a gallon of milk for a buck! I remember because I had to go buy it every day! So for a little kid to lug a gallon of milk and 3 loaves of bread for 2 blocks was a chore! It was just that life was for living... it was easy. I had absolutely no worries. Aside from a local bully who used to use me as a punching bag... or if a couple kids who you weren't friends with torment you because you were a little chubby as a kid. It was really a good life.

I think I will go for a walk tonight. Hope my mind is full of memories again. And I hope I don't get mugged!