I remember asking Henry, one year during High School, what he wanted to do for his birthday. Surprisingly he replied that it was all arranged. He was meeting a bunch of friends in Binney Park and they were going to hang out. All he needed was a tarp, some donuts, beverages, guitars and a frisbee. Then they would all go for pizza. It was going to be fun! That sounds great, I said, but its March and freezing. That didn’t phase him. Later the Birthday in the Park became a tradition and he did it maybe two or three times. But the first time I was a little concerned. Henry had not had a large group of friends at Middle School and this seemed risky.
I can now confess that, the first time, after dropping him off by himself I parked a small distance away and watched to see what would happen. Henry stood around with the tarp under his arm, a guitar in one hand and a bag of goodies in the other. No-one’s going to show, I thought. I was so wrong. Within 15 minutes perhaps 10 friends had joined him. They sat around chatted and played games. I drove off feeling bad I had doubted him but also feeling happy that he had pulled it off.
These photos (Connie’s) are from 2010 and include Christina, Klara, Tyler, Christian, Grant, Zach, Connie, Lexie, Peter and Maddie. Not sure who else was there. But a good time was had by all.
