The Mounds

This weekend my parents came into the city to visit. Well, to visit, but really to meet Forrest, Edward's son, who they had thus far only heard about. Forrest is 10 and adorable. Originally, Forrest, Edward & I were supposed to go visit Mom and Dad in the country, but work interfered, so Mom and Dad came in.

Dad coming into the city for a full day is a very rare event. He usually drives in at 7AM to deliver something and is gone by 8AM after not even a sip of tea. So this was quite an opportunity.

We were blessed with gorgeous weather and headed down to Union Square for brunch. On the way down, Dad mentioned that he had been reading in The New Yorker about certain "mounds" in Washington Square Park that the city plans to demolish to add more lawn to the park. I had read the same article, yet when Dad relayed the facts, it all sounded much more impressive. Dads have that power.

So off we went to brunch. After mimosas and bloody marys and eggs all around and as Forrest began practically bouncing off the banquet, we departed the restaurant and decided to go see the famous mounds for ourselves.

You could easily miss them, as they are tucked away at the very back of Washington Square. In fact, we almost gave up, but Dad persisted -our fearless leader-urging, "We can't leave now, after coming so far!" And so we rallied. Dad found them in the south western corner of Washington Square.

The orange fencing surrounding the mounds left no question of their impending demolition. And while unattractive and very likely quite dangerous, given their crumbling, cracked state, I could not help but feel saddened that soon they would be gone. I think we all felt it, as we looked at them and turned to each other and asked, Well, what's the big deal? Can't the city just fix them up? Do they really have to be destroyed?

After about five minutes standing about the mounds, Forrest's mind turned to more immediate urges. Locating a public restroom across the park, he started pulling Edward in that direction. Mom, Dad and I followed, leaving the mounds to their unfortunate fate.

The remainder of the afternoon was lovely.