planned spontaneity.

I like to make time to be spontaneous. Now, some of you probably think this is a contradiction in terms. How can you be spontaneous if you planned for it? Well, this is just a system that I have developed to keep myself sane. Part of me wants to veer off course and go explore. See things, try things, do things. And yet another part of me is looking at her watch, tapping her foot, and holding out a schedule. As a compromise, I leave leeway in the schedule just in case something else comes up. The idea of planning is too firmly implanted for me to give it up. I need a little structure to give myself direction. But I need a little wiggle room to keep from getting too uptight.

When I was thirteen, my family took a trip to Europe. We had a free afternoon in between trains, and so we went out into the streets of Paris. We explored, just taking in everyday street life, had some delicious bread. We did a lot of pre-planned activities on that trip that I probably don't remember that well. But that afternoon on the street stuck with me as a great vacation moment. Even though that break in the schedule was sort of accidental, the experience was valuable enough to teach me to always make time for detours.

So when I go someplace, I do a little research first. Get an idea of what there is to see and do. Make a note of those things and prioritize them according to how interesting they sound. That is the schedule. And then I start at the top of that list and make my way down. If something sucks, then I can leave quickly. But if something is awesome, I can stay as long as I want. And if I happen to catch sight of something intriguing along the way, I have time to stop at that, too.

Last month, I visited my sister. I did not give her an arrival time other than to tell her not to hold supper. I'm sure this drove her a little bit nuts. But I was planning on making a bunch of stops at various thrift stores, and not knowing how long I would want to linger at each one, I didn't want to give her a time and then have to amend it. I also didn't want to have to worry the whole time about keeping to a schedule, because then I wouldn't enjoy myself.

About halfway there, I saw a sign that made me glad that I had time to be spontaneous.

Another key to my sanity is being easily amused. And so if this is not particularly interesting to you, then that's okay. I think it's hilarious.

There is an actual story about the name. It's not as interesting as the name itself, and to tell you the truth, I wish I hadn't read the sign. I was thinking it about was about a bear that ate a bunch of people there, and everyone was just shocked at how many people a bear could eat. They were all like, "Man, that was one hungry mother." But that's not the story at all, and if you don't want to be let down, don't read the sign.


There are people living there, too. Some people get all the good addresses. Also note the clean area on the right side of the mailbox where the flag used to be.


The park itself is also quite lovely. But to me, that's entirely secondary.