Long Walks On Leafy Streets

12/24/2015 Rock Creek Park, Washington, DC
It is Christmas Eve here in Washington, DC. I am on duty watching Prashant while he and his mother are sleeping. I do this for the first half of the night. Sometimes I get a bit of sleep as well, but at other times he might be awake for a large portion of this time. I enjoy these quiet moments in the night, especially tonight as we ponder the state of our life and of our world and how true we are to the teachings of Jesus. I also enjoy the time I get to spend with him when he is awake. I keep telling myself how precious this time is, given the nature of our life. I spent a lot of time learning about the transitory nature of life and trying to understand what is real. Now that I have a family that I love very much, I wish life were not so fragile! Not so much for myself but so that I can be there for them.

This evening we drove to the zoo only to find out, as we got close, that the Zoo Lights exhibition we wanted to see is open only until 6 tonight and on Christmas day.
They have animal sculptures made of LED lights all throughout the zoo and it is a great outing for the family. I also like their using the lights as a way to educate people about nature and the environment. Nevertheless, we were able to see the lights at the United House of Prayer near the border between DC and Silver Spring. They put on quite an exhibition every year, with a manger scene and various biblical characters. They also had a big display of inflatable comic book characters. Prashant enjoyed looking at them although he also spent a good bit of time looking at the people who were there. He seems to be a people person.

As I have written before, he really enjoys being outside. I walked with him to the downtown Takoma Park area on Wednesday, to buy a small gift for Nicole. I was able to walk with him (carrying him in the ergobaby thing) because it was so warm outside. All around the Northeastern US we are having record high temperatures. Green tufts of grass and weed are popping up in our backyard along with a single rose bloom. The birds are out and even the dandelions are blooming here and there. It must be really confusing to the birds and animals. I have heard that bears are coming out of hibernation. In the reservoir near our university the Canada geese that normally arrive in the fall arrived really late, almost in early winter. Nevertheless, I enjoy seeing them on my walk to my office. Actually last week there were no classes and I went to campus only to run in the stadium track, after leaving Prashant at the daycare. The stadium overlooks the reservoir and so running there is a special experience. It was also really nice to be able to run and change and shower in the gym when there were very few people around. Campus was very quiet.

I also had a day to go out. Nicole gave me some time off from daddy duties on last friday. Her brother had given me a gift card for REI for my birthday. After a very long time I spent a day like I used to, wandering around the city and studying at cafes. I had a good bread and soup meal at the Soupergirl shop near Takoma metro reading the Washington Post. I cannot remember the last time I read a printed newspaper while eating breakfast (or lunch, as I did this time). After that I took the train to Tyson’s Corner where REI has a branch. Malls are built to confuse and frustrate men. They scramble our brain's GPS system. Tyson's corner is one of the more confusing ones. People kept checking with the directories and mall maps. Probably built before the time of the pedestrian friendly town center style malls. I got lost in the big box buildings, parking garages and the highways surrounding it. At least I was glad I wasn't driving!

All of those small annoyances together with the fact that I am now a father made the experience rather tiresome very quickly. I don’t know if I will do that again any time in the near future! I kept thinking about how nice it would be to take him on the metro train and show him around. Children do change our whole perspective on life. Most people let down their guard and really open up in a smile when they see Prashant. Perhaps it is because they reflect our most elemental human form, full of innocence, and with an infinitude of possibilities.

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