Where Do The Ducks Go?

An End To A Trip: Europe 2012

There we were in this little park in Richmond a tiny, quint neighborhood in London. Beautiful. Quiet. Joe and I had sometime before we had to head to the airport. This was it, the end of the trip. It was all coming to an end. Our journey through Europe. Four countries, four cities in four weeks.
We made our way to this small park with lush greenery and plants. We walked and talked about all the things we had seen and done. The time shared. We stopped at what seemed like a little cove of bushes. Inside this cove was an old algae infested, rust covered fountain depicting some Greek myth. I don’t remember which one. All I remember was that there were naked women and lily pads. Directly opposite was a clear patch of grass.

Joe and I sat down in front of the fountain facing the little patch of grass. We sat in silence thinking as we had done a number of times during the trip but this time we knew it would be the last of it’s kind. The end was here. We had this moment of connection without looking or talking to one another. A young mother and her child were playing in the little patch. This boy was having the time of his life. He owned this little patch of grass; to him it was his kingdom even if for a short while it was his. That was Europe for Joe and I, our kingdom. We felt free. Free to explore. Free to learn. Open to everything. Free to pretend just like this little boy in the park. I know we both saw ourselves in that little boy running around. He was in us. The boy glanced over at us once and awhile and I realized one day he might have a similar journey. Discovering new lands with his best mate. The streets of London, the drugs and vice of Amsterdam, the art in Berlin and the food in Rome.

That little boy was the whole reason for the trip; he embodied everything that we had been through. Tears came into my eyes as I saw this little boy frolic and pretend in this parkette. The freedom and the undying nurturing and love from his mother on the pink blanket. He slowed down. He was it. That “it” I was searching for the whole trip. The inner child forgetting about responsibility, the future, expectation, parents, school, love. He was in the moment just living in the now. Seeing it all for the first time.