A Walk in the Park

Chapter 1 - A Walk In The Park

After about 20 minutes, the mother is exhausted and decides to sit down at a bench close to the boys, yet further down in front of me. Viewing her cell phone quick, she then placed it back in her pocket. It's nice to see that she isn't attached at the hip with that thing, so many are these days.

The boys take a water break from their game of tag and then run further down, but still in her eyesight, to the playground area. She stays put on her bench and seems to enjoy some time to herself as they play yelling a lot of, "Watch this Mom."

At this point, I examine her more closely. She's wearing athletic wear, which I'm not a huge fan of, but she is playing with her kids at the park. I can't believe that I didn't notice this before. She's sporting my favorite color, a purple Nike cap, a purple long sleeve exercise three quarter zippie, black athletic leggings (which show off a nice shaped tush) and purple athletic shoes. At least if she's dressed super casual, the Purple One can approve her color of choice. Her dark mocha glossy hair is tied in a ponytail and pulled through her ball cap.

The three sport such contagious laughs that I cannot help but giggle as I listen to her and the boys playfully tease each other from a distance. Nothing is more attractive than a woman with a great sense of humor, I never had that in my relationships, but it's something I yearn for the older I get. It would be great to have a woman that would smartly banter with me.

The boys yell to their Mom that they'd like to go skip rocks at the lake, which is closer to me, so she gets up and starts walking toward my bench.

"Oh my gosh...she is walking toward my bench."

Attempting to calm my inner hysteria. "Ok, Nelson...you need to be chatty, but not overly chatty. You've been alone too long, don't look desperate for human interaction. Oh man please...she's probably married just relax. You're just chit chatting, nothing else. Whatever you do Nelson...don't turn into the pervert at the park!"

As she draws closer I can tell that she's going to sit at my bench.

"Hello," she said. "It's a beautiful fall day. Mind if I sit on your bench?"

At first I was very tongue-tied because of her piercing blue eyes, and trust me, I have never seen eyes this color and I have stared into many women's eyes. They are a fetching blue with speckled flecks of gray in them.

Gregariously I reply, "Absolutely, but I do charge a rental fee."

"OMG I cannot believe I just said that...that couldn't have sounded more old man-ish. Nelson pull yourself together...you're still young (at heart), hip and with it!"

My eyes stayed on her as she watched her boys skip rocks with a constant smile on her face. She has a beautiful smile and my mouth actually hurts from smiling so much.

She turned a bit sideways and rested her left arm on the back of the bench and I noticed she isn't wearing a ring. Her summer tan hasn't faded just yet, and I don't see a tan ring line, so I can only assume that she is single.

The fluff of her ponytail, yeah it makes me want to run my fingers through it, but I won't because that would be weird and creepy.

Another observation is that she's petite, I think I would be taller than her, but it might be close. After all these years, I need to let go of the whole height thing. At my age, I'm just going to start shrinking if I haven't already.

Finally geting the gumption, gosh that word sounds old too - gumption, and ask her, "How old are your boys?"

"Six and nine, they keep me on my toes."

"They seem very happy and physically active which is nice to see in the age of cell phones and video games. Do you come to this park often?"

"No, my boys and I like to hit different parks in the Cities so we decided to come here today. I think we'll have to come back here again. Between the open field, the playground and the lake it keeps them busy. Are you from around this area?"