May 04, 2011

Forest Park

Forest Park, Springfield, MA
You might just want to skip reading my blog this month. I am....

Emotional
I've now warned you. 


With us moving back to Utah this month, I've been hit with this sentimental, reminiscent attitude. And who would have thought August '08, when I was bawling as I hugged my dad goodbye, saying "I can't do this." That I would be saying now:

I don't want to go!

Part of me wants to stay. Send KC home or make him drag me back kicking and screaming. Because that part of me really wants to fight leaving.

In reality, the decision has been made. I have to go. And don't get me wrong. I get to be around my family again and being around family is the most important thing to me.

But until I leave, I am enjoying every moment left.

On Sunday, I spent almost 2 hours at Forest Park taking pictures. I seriously took pictures of everything. I walked 5 miles and still didn't get to enjoy all the park has to offer.

Main lawn of Forest Park.


Forest Park will forever hold a place in my heart...and in my legs. I trained for my first half-marathon here. Every morning I would get up, meet Nate, and we would run our various distances. We ran into a few dogs, but other than that, the park was the best place to train. I never ran out of things to look at and I never got bored during a run here.

Entrance of Forest Park.
The last park of each run, where I sprinted to the finish.
KC and I also went on many walks here, played tennis at the hard courts, read on the lawn, and peeked through the fence to see the zoo animals. We even paid the $15 to attend Bright Nights, which was kind of a bust, but still it's an event we'll always be able to laugh about.

Being only a 5 minute drive from our house, this park became a part of our lives. And it will be a part that I will miss. Here are some of my favorite pictures from Sunday's walk.

Sunshine.
I love the carvings in this old tree.
The old tree mentioned above. Just a cool tree.
They have an awesome flower garden with these vine trellis's.
When in full bloom it's gorgeous.
Popcorn popping in the sunshine.
Entrance to the Zoo.
Peeking through the fence to see the leopard.
We always walked the perimeter of the zoo and just peeked through the fence.

Leopard. We should have named him.
Monkey Bar Rings at Theodore Geisel Playground.
One of the many lakes in the park.
I liked the face in the bark. What a grumpy tree.
The is located in the lower park of the park.
To the right is a fishing pond.
To the left is a lake and a duck pond.
Another lake. This is the noted as the left lake in the pic above.
I actually sat in front of this lake for a few minutes and just pondered.
I may have gotten teary eyed. 
Stairs down to the duck pond.
Duck pond. Kind of gross.
Bridge over the fishing pond.
I love the reflection in this photo.
Fort door.
There is this random fort in the park.
You can't go inside. It's just there.
I never found out why it's there.
It's probably something that was originally there.
Kind of cool.
There are always frogs in this pond.
Sweet, little, covered walkway.
Luckily I was able to shift my camera view out of the way of two
teenagers making out in the pond to the left. 
KC and I would often park the car, run 1 mile to the stairs and
then run the stairs for 10- 20 minutes, then run the mile back.
It was an awesome workout. Sometimes I'd bring a jumprope
with us too and we'd make a circuit training out of it.
Pathway along the duckpond. 

KC asked me why I took a picture of the stop sign. Ha. See the hill behind the stop sign. This picture doesn't do it justice. It keeps going up after the turn at the top. During my half marathon training, I'd tell myself that I could slow down to catch my breathe, but once I hit the stop sign I had to give it my all until I got to the top. So this stop sign was the start of some hard work and training. For me it didn't say stop, it said GO!


KC's favorite park of the park. The two are his buddies.
We couldn't go to the park and not stop by to say Hi to these guys.
Nothing but blue sky.
While sitting on the park bench pondering I did have a thought come to me. It's a quote by Dr. Suess (my favorite and someone that knows Springfield well):

"Don't cry because it's over; Smile because it happened."

This is now something that I am reminding myself every moment left. I am so lucky to have had this period of my life. And so happy that KC let me share it with him. Massachusetts will be part of us and our marriage forever. And it's something I love. Even though I am not saying goodbye yet...

1 comment:

  1. It is seriously SO beautiful out there. It's settled...someday we are going to take a trip out there and see it. sound good? I'd say road trip but I am thinking after driving that truck across the country you are NEVER gonna want to do that again! :)
    See you soon.

    ReplyDelete

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