From age six to about ten years old, I would spend my annual vacation at Bethany Beach in Delaware racing up-and-down the small family oriented boardwalk trying to find the best way to spend my meagre $2 a month allowance always with my sister by my side as our parents were big proponents of the buddy system. I had worked hard theough the year and money didn't come easy and so I knew each purchase had to count. Always a given was a large order of boardwalk fries and usually some other sweet treat to accompany it, but the rest of my money was kept and looking for that perfect souvenir that would help me remember these priceless memories of family vacations throughout the year.
One year as I raced up-and-down the boardwalk repeatedly unsure as to what to purchase I saw my brother, Phillip, sitting in the bandstand's wooden reversible seats just looking outward and his serenity had piqued my chaotic attention. I went over and sat by him and asked why he wasn't doing something. He told me that he was doing something, people watching. He explained that everyone was doing thr same thing in an entirely different way and as I watched with him, I saw what he meant. He said that sometimes he would make up stories, backgrounds, and entire lives of the people he was watching. I found I too was captivated by this practice and from there made it a part of my annual beach tradition.
Today as I ran through a new park down in San Antonio, I felt that same sense of simple joy and absolute delight. Denman Estate Park with its Korean monuments and old home and wooded walking path had brought people out: college aged students picnicking on a blanket, a husband and wife walked their dog,, a pre-school class walked about as their teacher taught them about the wildlife, parents and children fed the ducks, runners whizzed by, and a three generational family explained the meaning and heritage of the monuments. I had been running myself but I kept stopping to watch the people and record the beauty. As I slowed I returned to that moment on a beach boardwalk where inspired by my brother, I had my first foray into social science and what I would spend the rest of my life loving. It's crazy how a park in Texas and a beach in Delaware will both inspire me to slow down and just listen and watch.
