May 29: Imagination Station

Not all that long ago and yet a lifetimes ago, I wrote hundreds of heart-filled letters, knocked on many doors, and called lots and lots of people in an effort to raise funds so that we could build this state-of-the art, for its age, playground in our community. To be honest, my kids were already on the outskirts of playing on such structures, but a friend was chairing the movement, I went to a meeting, I became the financial chair, and the rest of the year was spent searching for money! 

Trust me, I was already busy teacher and mom with a do-it-yourself kitchen renovation happening.  Adding this to my plate was probably not a wise decision, especially in the days of floppy discs masquerading as word processors and toll phone calls adding up quickly. 

The "architect," came to talk to kids and parents and anyone who wanted to provide input and then, delivered an enormous pile of pressure treated lumber, gigantic screws, stair treads, rafters and who knows what else. As they had done in a zillion communities before, and after, they delivered instructions to our "community designed" structure that looked like a zillion other community designed structures. Then, in an effort largely chaired by my construction savvy father of my kids,and a zillion less-than savvy volunteers, this enormous structure somehow came to light in what had been an empty field. 

I know what you are already thinking, pressure treated lumber with all those chemicals? What were they thinking? Volunteers building this thing, what about insurance? We threw caution to the wind (although I know we did buy construction insurance), and it became a go to destination for many years, until it was deemed unsafe because of the chemicals in that lumber that surely will last forever in a chemical-landfill-somewhere.

I found this picture as I cleaned out an old album, and it spurred a host of memories.  Now the picture, like the structure, is part of history. I know there were splinters, many, over time; however, I really hope no one got cancer for playing on this labor of love. We really did want to make the world a better, safer, happier place for our children. Perhaps, in retrospect, we should have run for political office and really changed the direction of the future.