When I lived in Utah, I had a nice little place I liked to go when life was getting a little too crazy. It was up Provo Canyon at a place called South Fork Park.
There's a stream that runs through the park and I would often sit and listen to the sound of the water running. Even though the problems of life never went away after going up into the mountains, they seemed a little easier to deal with.
I don't live in Utah anymore, but sometimes I miss it. I miss the serenity of the mountains. The day before I left Utah to move to Brooklyn, I strapped a sleeping Blake into his car seat and drove around the town where we had been living for about 9 months. For the first time in my life I actually felt like I was going to miss Utah. Everything was so wide open and beautiful. I guess I never took the time to fully appreciate the beauty that surrounded me until I was leaving.
Now I live here.
And to be honest, I have a hard time finding the beauty in it. Maybe it's the trash that piles up on the sidewalk or the smell of cigarette smoke whenever I go...anywhere, even when we are sitting in the comfort of our own apartment. But worst of all, I have no where to go. I don't feel like I have a place where I can go to get away from it all. Sure, there's the Green-Wood cemetery which has probably been the most serene place I've been in Brooklyn. But the effort it takes to get myself there just doesn't seem worth it. It's no South Fork Park.
Quit complaining, right? I have a roof over my head and clothes on my back. I think it boils down to this: I'm not a city girl, and I'm probably never going to be one.
4 comments:
That park looks beautiful! I would miss it too! I wish we had something like that near here.
And that picture of fifth ave is in the summer! You should have found a nasty winter one :) All I can say is, I feel your pain. (Say it like ex-prez Clinton.) I wrote a similar post years ago here:
http://16bitlove.blogspot.com/2008/03/california-dreaminga-few-hundred-miles.html
Spring will be beautiful. Just wait. And Sunset Park won't always be nasty. Just wait.
Growing up in Provo, with the Provo River Trail just up the street and access to the canyon or the lake just a few miles beyond; and then, more recently, living in Indiana, where we only had to drive for 5 minutes before we were in the middle of hardly inhabited and lovely green farmland, it took some major adjustment for me to find someplace in Brooklyn to go when I needed to get away. I've had to make some serious compromises, but in the end, it's not so bad -- especially, like Emily said, in the summertime. One place that is absolutely beautiful, and will be especially so in just a few weeks when the cherry trees blossom, is the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. They're free on Tuesdays and if you get there early enough on Saturdays. I plan to go there as often as I can once things start blossoming. When I can't actually get away from the city, that's the best sequestered, nature-lovin' place I can find. You should go (with me!) -- it's awesome.
PS: Also? South Fork! Blake proposed to me there, so consequently my memories of that park are especially fond. :)
That first picture of the park looks like it should be on a postcard. Seriously. I miss it too!!
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