This weekend I found the key—literally!
My son-in-law and I took my grandchildren ages 5 and 18 months to the park to play on Friday after Thanksgiving. Our original plan was to take them to Wesselmans’ Park to hike and then play on the playground, only to discover that it was closed. For some reason, my next thought went to a playground way on the other side of town: Sunset Park along the Ohio River.
It’s a pretty large playground. Only a couple of other kids there. As we are playing, I found, at the bottom of a slide, a key ring with a car key and a house key. It also contained a library card from what turned out to be a town 417 miles away in Michigan. Because the park is also at the start of our Greenway hiking and biking path, there are several parking lots around. A walk through each lot pressing the panic button on the key and searching for Michigan plate was fruitless. We figured that we’d just turn them into the police station at some point after we were done playing.
About a half hour later, as we were preparing to leave, I see a guy walk up looking around on the ground. “Searching for car keys?” I no sooner got it out than I recognized him as my nephew. My nephew and his wife from Michigan, in town, visiting family. Michigan. Car keys from Michigan? No way.
They had played on the playground earlier with their two girls and then met up with other family members at the museum just up the road. It’s at the playground that the keys were lost. Where I found them. And, where they came back looking for them just as we were ready to leave.
I don’t know if Albert Einstein played on many playgrounds, but I know that he certainly discovered a few “keys” in his life:
“A human being is a part of the whole, called by us, “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.”
My nephew’s wife lost the keys going down a children’s slide. Later, I found the keys going down the same children’s slide. The Carpe Diem Life Lesson: Realizing that we’re all connected is the key to understanding the Universe!
Oh, and don't be afraid to stay connected to our childhood and have fun, but always keep your car keys secure and have a spare.
Carpe Diem Life,
David Kuhn
CarpeDiem-Life.com
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