Public/Personal

41º 56'36.96 N, 87º41'32.64 W


This is a park behind the high school that I attended in Chicago.  The name of the park is Clark Park and it is a public space that is used for everything from p.e. classes to minor league soccer tournaments over the summer.  More importantly, this place was practically a designated make-out spot for everyone who had a girlfriend or someone to fool around with.  Although it was mostly a place that everyone knew about, I had a very personal connection with it.  No, I wasn't connected primarily because of the fact that I would take girls there to make-out with.  I mean, yeah, but also because I would ride my bike through there, as well as run through it.   I felt that it was a place where nobody would really care about what you were doing.

Throughout the course of my high school education, or even after it, I would always find myself going there to walk and think or to meet up with someone.  I remember days when I would walk hand in hand with a girl that I really liked.  It was as though nothing else existed; just the two of us, walking among trees and a serenity that seemed unreal.  I remember the exact moments that we had spent together, the smiles exchanged, the tender kisses, and the sun shining intensely.  I also remember the rain on the windshield of her red Jetta parked in the lot and the rain drops on her cheeks.

The power of location to trigger memory is quite remarkable.

Note: I switched the words of the post title because I feel that before something becomes personal, it has to become public first.  Well, when dealing with location at least.