April 7 - Pillow Fight @ Freedom Park

Goodness, has it really been two years? Where has the time gone? Friends, readers, followers please forgive me. Instead of being out partying and recording all of the sordid details, I was busy finding loving, planning a wedding and getting married. I promise it won't happen again.

In this year of rumored apocalypse, Armageddon and generally the end of the world as we know it, Atlanta's weather has been awfully strange. Winter came and went in less than two months. Spring perhaps lasted for about a week. As of the past couple of weeks, we've been experiencing 80 + degree weather. I ain't complainin'. Atlanta's special brand of my favorite season radiates in shades of green that outdazzle any emerald. And like all of the trees and flowering plants and outside critters, something inside me comes ALIVE and I've got to be outdoors soaking it in. I awoke with the mission to go to the park. Any park. After developing a proposal for the day's activities, which my husband could not refuse, I prepared a picnic basket, chairs and my other half for an afternoon at Freedom Park.

Upon arrival, the park was relatively empty with the exception of some ne'erdowells under a tree, a few pet owners with their dogs and four sanguine shirtless Frisbee tossers. To describe the scene as pleasant would have been a criminal understatement. The park was gorgeous. The air and sun were perfection. The world could have its bad economy, celebrity scandals and racially charged tales of woe. Here we were in the park with our toes in the grass and all was indeed well.

As the time passed, we noticed an uptick in fellow parkers. They all looked of the neo-hippie persuasion and which came as no real shock to us. What seemed odd is that they all had pillows. Not blankets or chairs. Just pillows. After a few moments of shameless staring and ear-hustling (a phrased coined by my husband which is another fancy way of saying eavesdropping) we deduced that there was going to be a park pillow fight. Oh joy! What fun! Why had we not been made aware? Where could we go buy pillows? It's happened every year on the first Saturday in April for three years? Oh poo! Well, we'll definitely bring a pillow next year. For now, we'd watch.

We positioned ourselves on a hill in clear view of the activities and let the energy of the moment wash over us. Men and women, girls and boys, young and old and even a few dogs were having the time of their lives laughing and swinging pillows at each other. All you could hear were thwaps and giggles. Some fighters had one or two targets in mind while others just ran around wacking anyone who had a pillow. Even the guy selling popsicles from one of those little pushcarts was knockin' heads. Hubby and I stood pointing, laughing and discussing what strategies we would use if only we had brought our pillows. Again, why had we not heard about this? The opportunity to be a kid again out in public while beating someone senseless with a pillow? No duh. That's me 1000%. Well, next year it would be on. We made a mental note and then headed on to to the grocery store to try our best to pick up healthy foods and avoid purchasing Ben and Jerry's Pistachio Pistachio.