Trinity and Treats

           

     

            There is no greater time to relax than when you are in nature. The outdoors is a place to escape everyday activities, to forget about the perpetual ticking of time, and to lose oneself in fresh air. I feel the most at peace when I am outside, which I attribute to not only the beauty of nature but also to nature’s sounds. I enjoy observing the many elements of nature, and like to feel the renewed sense of being “one with the earth.” I try to find breaks in my schedule to sit outside and just enjoy my time regularly because I feel refreshed and energized after doing so. There are many reasons or occasions for being outside, and although I did get to sit outside today, the main purpose for my little adventure was to find food.

            Today, I decided to go to the Fort Worth Food Truck Park with some of my friends. The weather was nice this afternoon, and we figured that since it is a Friday, there would be a lot of activity along the Trinity. We ate our food at a picnic table facing the river so as to observe everything going on. There were many people at the Food Truck Park and even more along the river. The majority of the people there seemed to have either just come from work or just come to hang out since it was such a nice day. We saw bicyclists, walkers, joggers, dogs, children, families, and even a few fish as they jumped out of the water and then back in. A man on his bike stopped to ask me how much longer the path went down the river, and when I responded that I didn’t know how long it was, he replied by saying that it didn’t matter anyway because he was just happy to enjoy the experience. I thought his comment was interesting and quite profound. The fact that he originally wanted to know how much longer, and then realized it didn’t matter made me realize how precious every moment is. He was content to ride his bike down the river for as long as it would go, and there was something comforting in this. It was as if all his other activities stopped, and he had the opportunity to just enjoy life for what it was.

            Apart from this quick conversation, I noticed that the river is an entity that brings people together. I had always heard that water brought civilizations together via watering holes hundreds of years ago, however, I had never seen this play out in person. The Trinity River brought a wide variety of people together for a common purpose: to enjoy the water and the outdoors. There was a diverse group there this afternoon, which included young and old families, working professionals, dog-sitters, people training for marathons, students, bicyclists, and even people, like ourselves, who were there to take in the scenery and eat good food. It is not very often that this group of people would all be in the same place at the same time, however, the river united us for a few short hours. The Trinity River served as our unifying factor, and I can now see why civilizations have been built around rivers or waterways for centuries. The water not only provides humans with physical needs but it also satisfies emotional needs by giving individuals a calming, constant, and steady aspect of life.