Tomorrow evening at 6pm is the official ribbon cutting on Dalton’s Memorial Park in downtown Augusta.  The feeling could not be more bittersweet.  The park itself is nothing short of incredible.  It is probably more comparable to an amusement park than a playground.  Supposedly it is the tallest park in Kansas, has these humongous adult-accommodating tube slides and a zero gravity rail swing that is sure to be a hit amongst people of all ages.  That, I suppose, is the “sweet” part.  The “bitter” part is slightly more complicated.

To be honest, I have only driven by. I haven’t even gotten out of my car and stood next to the massive orange and black equipment.  That is not because I am not totally awed by the structure – it is quite the opposite.  The uneasiness and dread I feel (the “bitter” part if you will) comes from a familiar place inside me when I see these tributes done in the name of my child.  Don’t get me wrong, I love them…from seeing his initials on the warm up basketball jerseys of the Wichita Collegiate middle schoolers to his annual memorial baseball tournament in Butler County.  Ways of paying homage to him like that are terrific, yet the “bitter” feeling exists because he physically does not.  I would much prefer to have him here and let the park be nameless, jerseys to simply have the school mascot on them, and watch him play baseball in real time as a senior in high school as opposed to seeing him frozen in time as a 13 year old kid on an Annual Dalton Palmer Memorial Baseball Tournament banner.  And, frankly, the people who organize these honors for Dalton understand my anguish without painting me as ungrateful and self-centered. They are parents too do not fault me for admitting things like that.

As far as this park goes, it is my prayer to the community that the people of Dalton’s hometown enjoy it for many years to come.  Take your children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren down there.  Try not to become too winded climbing up those steep steps to the twisty slides. Go ahead and zoom down those suckers yourself.  Whiz by people as you take the curves of the zero gravity rail swing grinning from ear to ear.  Just do me a favor.  First, thank the city of Augusta and Augusta Project, Inc. for funding a project like this designed to draw more business to our downtown area while giving the youth a fun and safe environment to enjoy for generations.  Second, spare a couple moments telling a child or two who the park is named after.  Tell them, like this crazy park, Dalton was pretty wild and crazy himself.  He loved adventure and had a rampant imagination.  If you ask his closest friends, they would tell you he insisted on being the center of attention.  Isn’t it ironic how this park is definitely the focus of our downtown with its colossal structure looming over our very own historic State Street?  That seems awfully fitting.  Bittersweet, to be exact.

Happy 150th birthday, Augusta, Kansas.  May you enjoy another 150.

Lastly, I thought Dalton’s buddies might get a kick out of the video they all made back in the 5th or 6th grade while hanging out at the Stone Lake Park.  It was when the “Harlem Shake” craze was going around.  Notice who is front and center.  I apologize for the poor quality of the video, but I think you will get a chuckle regardless.

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” George Bernard Shaw