The People You See at the Places You Go

Yesterday evening, it was sunny and warm, so OC and I went to the park. We took along her tricycle as there was a nice, flat path around the baseball fields which adjoined the park's playground. The park is her favorite thing to do, ever. Other loves, in descending order: Scooby Doo movies, the color pink, The Simpson's, Thomas the Tank Engine, the color purple.

The park is an interesting place to people-watch. There are the kids playing at the park whose parents or older siblings are playing softball/baseball in the nearby fields, there are the parents of little kids helping them climb and navigate the colorful plastic toddler areas, there are the big kids talking about school/boys/girls/their parents/music on the swings, there are the kids playing tennis on the courts, the kids checking out the creek and looking for frogs, and the overly-enthusiastic theatre-major parents. That last one? Those are the most amusing to watch.

There was a couple at the park last night who both seemed to major in theater in college. They were young, fresh-faced, healthy looking people who were VERY OUTGOING, and who very enthusiastically played with their young son, who looked to be between 12 and 18 months old. They were effervescent. What does "very enthusiastic" look like? It's two people making enormous, wide-eyed faces, sucking in air and saying, "Oh!!!!!!!!!!! I'm gonna get you!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh!!!!!!!! There's daddy!!!!!! OH!!!!!!! Where's my boy!!!!! OHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Oh. My. God. They were annoying. But also, very sweet. I watched them as they displayed an inhuman level of energy and enthusiasm for being at the park with their child. They BOTH were that way. It was like the newness of having a newborn hadn't worn off yet, and they were still thrilled and unscathed by the challenges of parenthood. I just couldn't relate. I mean, don't get me wrong, I was thrilled to be at the park and enjoying some time with my daughter. Time is so precious, and we were spending it TOGETHER, doing something FUN, I should've been twirling and shouting....but that's just not me. I was not a theater major, and I do not, by default, get bubbly unless I've been drinking.

I don't mean to express displeasure with theater majors. It's just that you're so interesting to watch, what with all the expressiveness going on. I have nothing but love for you.

I had better get used to all the people who go to the park, including SAHM's, because I am quit my job. Yep, just like her, and for many of the same reasons with much of the same feelings of relief.

My last day is May 31st.