That Spring Break

PERHAPS NOT THE IMAGE OF COLLEGIATE ACTION AND STIMULATION you'd expect from such a title, but this is the sort of break we too seldom take and could more often use.

There is a certain beauty in being amongst quietly growing things, rooted firmly on the ground while gently touching the sky. They do not move, only occasionally sway, and make no sound save for a delightful rustling when a breeze blows by. In their hearts they know patience, sitting through life's winters until they could spring back into vitality, and like Schwartz's Pippin, they recognize that "Everything has its season, everything has its time."

Having grown up a city girl and mall child, park culture is new and foreign to me. Leisure time has always been spent at chairs and tables, appropriated for a meal and drinks or a keyboard and screen. For the indoorsy type like myself, what's there to do at a park? The Ajuntament de Barcelona describes some of their 67 green spaces to "not have services or facilities with purposes other than their conservation and contemplation. They are above all places for strolling and being." Philosophical!

Wandering through Turó Parc before lunch the other day made my restless mind feel so sterile and small. Thoughts always going ten different directions at once, I'm still never sure what direction I want to go really. On the other hand, these trees, they have stayed put and grown peacefully for millennia. They must be doing something right.

Perhaps, instead of running restlessly about, it's worth a try taking the time to root, wait out inevitable winters and gradually, peacefully grow. It must feel so nice to touch the sky.

And not in the Minaj "Starships" sort of way.

Turó Parc, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, Barcelona. Photos by Lady San Pedro.