August 15, 2007

The Morning: Movement

In the morning we met my brother at Golden Gardens (I keep calling it Golden Gate), it’s a beach/playground area on the Puget Sound. While I assisted Blonde Niece climb UP the tunnel slide (over and over and over), a woman came by to offer her a balloon. Apparently, she and the other 20 adults milling around next to the playground were waiting for their kids.

We’d noticed a banner reading “P2S —You did it!” and assumed it was for a graduation or birthday. Turns out, P2S stands for “Providence to Seattle”. A group of 20 college kids were due any minute after biking across the country. They’d started June 10 and rode every day except for stops to work on Habitat for Humanity projects. The whole ride was a fund and awareness raiser.

Blonde Niece finally decided she was ready to go build sand castles so we waddled briskly over to where OTRsis had set up camp. Eventually, my brother joined us and Blonde Niece proudly showed him her handiwork. All of a sudden we heard screams, shouts and yells—the bikers were coming! The approach to the beach involves a long downhill that gives a glimpse of the ocean, then parralels the beach for 500 yards before turning back into the long parking lot. As we turned to watch the bikes streaming down the hill, we started sniffling. The raw exultation called for a response and all we could do was tear up!

The screaming bikers swept into the area where their parents were gathered, then turned and attacked the beach. They rode to the water’s edge, dropped the bikes, then piled into the sea surrounded by and filled with screams and cheers. Even my bro got a little watery.

2 comments:

Beloved said...

That is so neat. Habitat for Humanity is such an awesome organization. My husband has been wanting to get in on a building project around us. He's interested more for selfish gain (to learn more about carpentry), but what the heck? It's all for a good cause in the end!

Anonymous said...

i love biking, and i LOVE Golden Gardens!!! glad you are enjoying my town while i'm away! :)

get to go snorkeling today in the Indian Ocean, so i'm not missing Seattle TOO much...

miss you and can't wait to see you again