The Park Next Door

Some of my most prominent memories of youth were of that park next door. A park where my dad and I would spend our endless summer days playing catch and going on the swings and sliding down the playground. The days after dinner when I would plead to my dad that he would go to the park so we could play. The sun wouldn’t set for what felt like years to a young boy like me. Days of youth I thought would never end and now that they have I wonder why I was so focused on growing up. Maturing and growing up always seemed like the best thing that could ever happen to me. It’s weird though, as kids we all wished to be older and the older we get the younger we wish to be. I couldn’t relate more as days of no homework and free time are now thoughts wrapped around in my head of times long ago, memories just inches away that I know no matter how much I try I can never reach. Oh how I wish I could go back and do those same things with my dad again, it’s too late now for regrets of things I could’ve done better when he even had time to spend. Maybe in another life, I get to spend another day playing with my dad till night, at the park next door. 

The Day He Died

After a fun Friday in second  grade I was driving home from school in my mom’s car Suddenly, there was a phone call from my aunt in Vietnam The longest 5 minutes I have ever experienced passed and the look on my moms face changed Her smile knowing that it was a Friday and we could spend all day and weekend together vanished, replaced by a look of deep sadness and worry I asked, What’s wrong mom? Nothing, she replied It’s just that your Grandpa…is gone She tries to explain to me how death works, but I just couldn’t wrap my head around the meaning of him being gone forever She said to me, I am going to have to go to Vietnam to attend his funeral I asked her why she wouldn’t bring me along as well School is important you must stay here, she replied to me in a sad tone School? I started asking, but school is not important when it came to my family I yelled Her face turned even more sour, I knew I was wrong when I couldn’t even account For how sad she felt, losing her father on a day that supposed to be filled with joy The ride home was quiet, I knew breaking the silence wasn’t going to help I had never seen my mom so broken and lost, I thought she was superwoman or a hero who never showed an emotion of sadness That was the first time I saw it The day he died…