JOURNAL: June 20, 2006

I met Jeannie and Gary for a picnic lunch today. We picked up some sandwiches from a local deli, walked over to the park, and spread some towels out in the shade of an enormous tree. It was a lovely last day of spring -- temperature in the 70’s, pleasant sunshine, and a very enjoyable breeze passing by. Strangely, the park seemed almost empty, with just a few boys playing a pick-up game of touch football across the way, and some walkers going along here and there. It felt like we three picnickers owned the place – a beautiful private estate all to ourselves. We spent an hour or so in the shade of that stately old tree, enjoying our sandwiches and talking about one thing and another. I don’t know about my friends, but it had been many years since I had sat on a blanket for an honest-to-goodness picnic, and so it seemed like a very special treat. I ate slowly, just to help the time pass more slowly.