The Park

"Perfordinary" read the sign above the entrance. He generally found himself within this gated park. It was his favorite place. The trees were always the best color and he always spent his free time walking beneath them. Almost every day, he walked past that sign, and, almost every day, he ignored it. Never actually, reading the sign when he read it, and never really, seeing the sign, when he saw it. Most days, he may run into two or three people, never enough to deter him from taking the path he took every day, but also just the social interaction he desired. He would stop at the benches along his walk and converse with those sitting near him. The meaningful interactions and conversations gave him enough sustenance to occupy his mind throughout the final parts of his walk.

After he had looped around the park once, he decided to start walking again. He didn't have an end goal or an idea of where he would end up, he just walked. His walk started underneath the cherry blossoms, which were always in the prettiest time of their deciduous cycle, and ended next to the willows that were pushed against the river. In the middle section of his walk, he would sometimes see distant figures playing with their dogs out on the trimmed grass; any homeowner would be envious of. He could never make out who the people were, he could only see the blurs of their movement.

As he walked along the gravel path beneath the cherry blossoms he noticed how beautiful they were, how beautiful they always were. He noticed the clarity of the water of the river he always walked by, how it always looked like it came straight from the ground. Beneath the cherry blossoms, he thought to himself, "How are they always so pink? How are they so incredibly breathtaking every single time?"

Normally, he didn't think much of the colorful trees he walked by. He would try to leave them out of his thoughts, he didn't want to ruin what he thought to be a beautiful illusion. He exited the canopy of pink trees and continued walking along the river. He stopped at the first bench on his walk. He would normally sit and watch the river for no longer than ten minutes, but he felt drawn to stay longer this time. After 15 minutes had passed, a man walked up and sat down next to him. They sat in silence for the majority of the time but right before he decided to continue on his walk the man spoke up, "Beautiful day right?"

"As always, it seems," he replied "How often do you come here? To the park that is," he asked.

"Whenever I can," the man spoke lightly, "it's an incredible park. I've never seen a prettier one."

"Yeah," he said slowly as he started to stand, "Those cherry blossoms are an incredible color." he nodded his head back towards the start of the path.

"Huh, I've never really noticed them. I'll make sure to pay attention next time I walk through,"

"They're beautiful, I highly recommend it," he turned towards the man and nodded, "It was nice talking to you."

"Likewise," the man replied.

As he continued on his walk he thought about what the man had said, "He didn't notice the cherry blossoms? They seem so prominent I thought they'd be hard to miss. Maybe he doesn't know what cherry blossoms look like?" He ran through the possibilities of how the man could have missed the trees but he boiled it down to a miscommunication.

He approached the middle of his walk and sat down on the perfectly trimmed lawn, that at this point, seemed normal. He watched the silhouettes play frisbee with their pets and other games with each other. He wouldn't normally sit on the grass but today felt different. Today felt oddly normal. The park didn't seem to have the pizzaz it used to when he would walk through it.

He wasn't as intrigued by the trimmed grass and those playing games or picnicking on it. He decided to move on, having only sat for less than five minutes. He made his way up the gravel path. The path winded up a slight hill and into a thick forest filled with pine trees. He leisurely walked through the forest, looking through the thick wall of trees on either side of him. As he exited the forest he approached the last bench he would stop at before his walk ended. He sat down and began to ponder what he had seen.

As he was in the middle of his thoughts someone sat down next to him. The person looked familiar but he couldn't put his finger on who it was.

"Hey there!" the person said.

"Hi, how's it going?" he asked,

"Oh you know, not bad, not incredible, pretty average if I do say so myself."

"That's nice," he replied, not really wanting the conversation to continue but also intrigued about what the man had to say.

"Have you noticed anything odd about this park?" the man asked open-endedly.

"Could you be a bit more specific?" He pushed back,

"Well, I've been to this park a lot and it always seems like it's in prime condition and honestly, just perfect." the man answered

"Yeah, I've noticed that too." He replied

"It's an interesting thing, perfection. I recommend reading the story behind the name of the park. It might help you out a little." the man offered,

"Thanks, I appreciate it," he said, feeling a little odd that this man he just met was handing out advice. The man stood up and stuck out his hand.

"Name's Donaldson, and yourself?"

He grabbed his hand and shook it, "Neil" he said.

"Well, Neil, this park has a lot to offer to everyone in any walk of life. I hope you can take something away from it," with that, he left.

Neil, intrigued by the advice, reached the front of the park and read the plaque that he had never seen before.

"Perfordinary - The ideology that once everything is perfect, nothing is inherently perfect, making everything ordinary."