Finding beauty in a broken world is creating beauty in the world we find
-Terry Tempest Williams
Spending time with family is the best feeling in the world. A few weeks ago I moved away from my hometown and it has been a little difficult to get used to being away from everything I have ever known and loved. Sometimes when life gets in the way we don't have the time for family like we should. Once we get that time back, it feels so magical. My family likes to find things to do that won't dent the nonexistent money in our pockets and what better way to have a lot of fun for free than going outside?
Last week I got to visit with my mom and the weather was finally nice so we took my daughter and nephew to walk the railroad tracks. They have never seen tracks up close and it was really nice to spend time with them and make up our own fun games as we went along. There aren't any trains that go down it and it seems to be a popular walking spot. Given that it is mainly walked by the homeless and college students, the place does have some trash thrown everywhere.
I'm no magical photographer but a girl can pretend, can't she? I like to find the beauty in the small things and well, everything. I stop along the way and start taking pictures of the trash. My 7 year old nephew says, "Um Aunt Kimmy, why are you taking pictures of trash?". I couldn't really find a good enough answer to explain myself and wasn't sure if I even would find beauty in them when I was done so I just said, "I don't know yet, bud."
The children surprisingly had a lot more fun on the railroad tracks than we expected them too. We ended up finding railroad spikes all over the place that had fallen out of the tracks so the kids pretended that they were about to go vampire hunting and the spikes were for them to hunt with. No, we did not let them play with them but everytime they seen one they had fun pretending.
We walked the railroad tracks for about 45 minutes to an hour. Although we did have fun, we were a little nervous because it is home to so many people who have to take what they can get, when they can get it. My mom carried her taser and I had the pepper spray, you can never be too cautious when it comes to the protection of children! It was a very nice and relaxing walk though. As always, we filled the air around us with the sound of laughter. Of course we couldn't finish the day without a little ice cream so we headed to the ice cream shop to finish up the day.
The love in our family flows strong and deep, leaving us memories to treasure and keep
-author unknown
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Family time is the best! The kids look adorable in that photo.
Yes it is! Thank you :) They love each other so much.
@magicalmoonlight, I absolutely love this post!! It seems in our world, people only find value in doing things that require money and miss out on all of the opportunities to have fun just being.
I think you found a lot of beauty in the trash along the tracks...and nothing like a good old fashioned "explore" for kids and adults alike to have a little fun! Like you, I can see beauty in the ugly...it's easy if you try, and a lot nicer way to live life!
Of course, the ice cream is always an added bonus!
Cheers :)
So true @lynncoyle1, we had so much fun and that part didn't cost a dime. People far to often say "I'm bored", when they have the whole world to explore! It is nice to live life that way, much easier than focusing on the negative.
You said it! It takes way more energy to be negative than positive !!
I liked the "Stand by me", track scene picture. Just one question, why could the kids not play with the old railroad spikes? Are they treated like the railroads company property? I know some places have some weird rules, but I never heard of any protecting old railroad spikes.
Thank you 😊 To be honest with you, we werent 100% sure on the rules. I have heard of some places being a little strict and we just didn't want to risk it.
That's the same here, some of the "laws" may be urban legend, but when it comes to law, do I really want to go to jail because of a horseshoe, railroad spike or peice pottery.