I know this is going to sound utterly silly to some, but I love highway underpasses and sidewalk chalk. You see every time I drive over this one overpass or see a box of those big old pieces of colored chalk at the store, or even just remnants of a young artists work on a sidewalk my heart instantly swells up with joy.
Now before you think I have some sort of strange mental problem with chalk, allow me to explain why I love sidewalk chalk. We’ve all had experiences in our lives that we are reminded of when we smell, hear or see something that’s related to that particular experience and therein lies the reason why I love sidewalk chalk.
It’s been a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...no wait a minute, that’s been used somewhere...anyway, long ago when our children were young I had the idea and the opportunity to drive our daughter and our son, along with a box of sidewalk chalk out to this overpass a couple of miles east of our home town on 10 highway so they could create a little chalk art on a grand scale up under the bridge.
Now I didn’t tell them where we were going or what we were doing so it'd be a surprise when we got to the underpass between Eudora and Desoto. When we pulled up under the bridge with cars roaring by above us we got out and started creating our little hearts out.
And the thing is, I honestly don’t remember what we talked about, what the pictures looked like, how long we were there, or even what time of the day it was. All I can remember about that day is that we had a great time creating these murals out of chalk together.
Now being that these beautiful works of art were created out of chalk, the wind and the rain eventually eradicated and erased their existence, leaving behind only the awesome memory of this really great time I shared with my kids.
And the awesome thing is even though those murals are gone forever, the time I spent with my daughter and son that day will never be eradicated or erased from my memory. And so every time I see sidewalk chalk and every time I drive over Evening Star road on 10 highway I can’t help but smile and dream and wish for more sidewalk chalk moments.
But now they’re both grown, married and moved away. And my one wish for both my kids and for their spouses is that when they have children of their own that they take the time to create as many sidewalk chalk memories as humanly possible before their kids grow up.
Love Dad
