At recess in the ring...

It has been hot the last few days. Not unusual for August here. Tonight we won our beach volleyball playoff games and thus must play again next week. We actually have a chance at winning the tournament. :-)

SGG and her two boys were out there tonight, but I think they really wanted to be home rather than at the beach.

Two blocks away, I could hear a band playing. They were called "Mike Proffitt Band".

After volleyball, SGG took her boys home and I went up to 31st street to listen to a band called "Borderline Crazy". One of the few bands I have heard around here with a female singer.

I sat on the wall around the little grassy area. It was warm from being in the sun all day. The air was almost stifling, hot and humid. I was watching a few boys play with a soccer ball, and the occasional parent that would join them. I watched some people play Frisbee. Some people danced. Some kids did gymnastics...funny, I didn't see any parents give that a shot.

On their break in between sets they would play music from an ipod or something. One of the songs was Elton John's "Tiny Dancer". As this song played, there were were several little girls running about dancing, doing ballerina twirls and leaps. What popped into my head was this line from a poem we analyzed in 8th grade, "Because I could not stop for death" by Emily Dickinson. The line was "At recess in the ring". These children were just in the moment, blissfully unaware of future or stress, truly at recess in the ring or circle of life. For a moment I got to share that feeling...and then reality returned.

SGG couldn't be there, but I was texting her lines from the songs that they played. They played Paramore's "Misery Business" and that was my cue to leave.

If you are so busy that you cannot stop for anything...even death...try to take a moment, a recess, and dance with a child or a partner in your home, in the park, at a concert, or on a street corner (Like The Exception).