Friday, March 29th 2013

    The sun that peeks through the intermitted clouds warms my hair as I sit and sketch the purple flowers growing in the garden. I hope soon other colored flowers will spring up through the dirt and join the purple ones. The crab apple tree that the robins flew in and out of earlier this year has sprouted buds. Tiny red tips that soon, hopefully, will bloom into strong fragrant flowers. If the warmer weather and the sun finally appearing are any beginning indications of spring, the blooming is just around the corner.

     When I looked up from my notebook, I noticed someone walking on the walkway through the park. I was surprised at first to see the man with his headphones in and a messenger bag hanging off his right shoulder. No one had been here the several times I had sat on the bench and watched my surroundings. He walked past the bench and didn't stop to see the park around him. I'm not even sure he realized he was in a park with how quickly he passed through. As I returned to my sketching I felt a bit of happiness that Baum received more attention than the ever changing weather and me. It's not a very large park, but it's quiet and if someone were to stop long enough I'm sure they would stay. If the man had taken a moment longer to notice the way the trees guard Baum from outside traffic, or how the sun hits the bench at just the right angle giving you enough sunlight and warmth. Maybe if he had sat down next to me on the bench he would find some hope of spring in the flowers that have been growing for more than a week now.

     But he didn't. 

     For that I am relieved. I find myself very defensive of Baum. After spending several weeks venturing to the park I've become attached. I often think about it as my place. The bench, the garden, the line of trees bordering the park have all become this place I have found comfort in. I know I shouldn't be selfish. I should want to share this place with whoever finds it. They too may share the same feeling of comfort I have felt sitting on this bench in a park beginning to sprout life again.