audabon park

Favorite Place

In my 15 years of living, I have visited hundreds of places, all of which are unique in one way or another.  Some of these include Billings, Branson, and the hot springs of the Rocky Mountains.  But out of all of those diverse locations, my favorite place is an outdoor basketball court in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  There are two reasons why I love this place:  it’s the perfect place to go to whenever I’m in doubt, and it seems to be the only place I am at peace.

In Minneapolis, life can get stressful really fast, whether it’s from being claustrophobic or being robbed.  So, to get away I go to this basketball court that resides in Audabon Park.  It is right on the bottom of a hill, so it is very secluded.  To me, this place seems to be trapped in time, never changing as I go there every other weekend.  When I shoot baskets there, with a little friend I like to called Spalding (a basketball), no one has ever disturbed me or came up to me asking for money.  I can just be there without being disturbed by anybody, and that’s nice because it allows me to do some real soul-searching.

I have never played on a basketball court as calm as I have played on this one.  Whenever I play pickup games there, when there is any, I always cannot be stopped.  I’ve even played against former college basketball starts at Audabon Park, and yet I still can score more points than them.  In Audabon Park, I am unstoppable.  But the smile on my face is not a smile of arrogance;  it is a smile of happiness and contentment.  I feel as if I could live there happily without any money or food.  I could survive on the sheer love I have for Audabon Park.

To me, Audabon Park is the perfect place for me.  It’s the only place that will satisfy my emotional wants.  Maybe one day I could live near there so I could take my young ones to play basketball with me.  This little park in Minneapolis is all I need to survive.

~Chamalmy