One of the disadvantages of moving multiple times during childhood is just as you’re beginning to grow attached to a place, you have to pack your bags and move again. That’s why I don’t have a place from my past that I’m fond of. 

Well, maybe there is such place. I’m not sure if it exists anymore. At least when I tried googling it, it didn’t exist. So that picture above is just a random park. Maybe it’s like the prompt says, it’s destroyed.

At least, according to my mom who went back to China two years ago, she said it’s no longer recognizable. She said apartments were being built in it. I was scratching my head, apartments in the park? That’s worse than Central Park. At least Central Park is preserved.

At this point, you should know the place I’m talking about is a park. It’s called 人工湖 or Man-Made Lake because it was built surrounding a man-made lake. The park is also an amusement park but I hardly spent my time in that part. Great, thinking about the park is bringing back memories.

In the summers when I spent it with my grandparents, soon after dawn each mornings, I accompanied my grandma to the park. We would begin our morning walk at the rear entrance of the park and we’d come out at the front.

We would stroll along the path lined by trees and as soon as we reach a clearing, we would spot senior citizens doing their morning exercises (tai-chi). My grandma would join in while I would sit on stone bench while observing their slow and precise movements.

Sometimes, I would get bored waiting and I would begin to wander in my own world and when my grandma’s ready to go, I would unconsciously follow, still lost in my own world.

A short ways ahead was the man-made lake, and across from the lake would be a restaurant. We were regular customers there. We’d get a table for two and order a couple dishes of dim-sum. My favorite was always its Chinese-style Sushi, Sushi without the raw fish and cold rice.

After breakfast, we’d continue down the path toward the front entrance of the park and make our way home.

Now, thinking of the amusement part of the park is making me reminisce all the times I spent there, the number of times I’ve ridden the merry-go-around or the picture my dad took in the park when I was just a few months old sitting on my mom’s lap but that’s a story for another day.

It would really be a shame if this park was destroyed. Destroying would be the same as destroying people’s memories. Do you know how many people spent their childhood or their days there?

Daily Prompt: Ode to a Playground