June 1972

I graduated from college the month before

Now what?

An unusual Saturday outing with Dad to the Huntington Village Green

An arts and crafts fair in the sunshine

We walk around to the various booths

Make our way up and down the rows

Off to the east side of the Green, close to Park Avenue

I see a big wide tree with a low hanging horizontal bough

It invites me over, the L-shaped tree

I sit and look out from this corner spot

The colors the people the loose happy feel of it all

An outdoor adventure of wonder

I take in the sights on the broad bench of bark

Dad wants to leave, as it is now late morning

I agree and we drive home

But then I ask if I can borrow the car and go back

I make the return trip to the Green alone

I walk directly to the tree

I sit down on its bark bench and am instantly comfortable

I look out again at the crowd and the booths and hear the sounds

I feel part of something

I don’t know what, I don’t know why, I don’t know how

But something stirs within

Calling me

This tree this grass this scene of life

I have thought back to that day many times over the years

How a shift was in progress

A message

Creativity the arts

Somehow somewhere some part of me yes me

And yes, I am writing these words today more than fifty years later