This week we visited Hermann Park. 

3 Times. 

Each time was a very wonderful and different experience. (If you live in the area, definitely give it a visit!) The first time we went was just after the sun went down. It turned dark quickly and was quiet and empty. There were runners here and there, but mostly just wind, some bats and a big open sky. We wandered around the reflection pool and monuments and fed a couple ducks. I was excited to come back and further explore the area.

The next time we went it was late afternoon on Saturday. There were hundreds of people. Families having bar-b-ques, couples enjoying picnics, guys playing football, boys playing soccer, girls working a jump rope and a man at the snack stand selling goodies and snow cones. There was even a small group of teenagers playing drums and instruments giving us all a beat to bounce to. We enjoyed wandering through the crowd, along the water, feeding the ducks and watching airplanes fly above. It was warm, alive, full of excitement and entertainment. 

Today we went again. It was fresh and early and not many people were around. The clouds gave a perfect covering as we wandered through the trees and grass. We played on the swings while watching squirrels play tag and capture the acorn. We sat by the lake and gathered the birds by throwing out cereal and crackers. Ducks quacked around us and pigeons soon joined the excitement. Within minutes we were surrounded by our feathered friends. We fed them. They entertained us. We all got along. Every few minutes the air would fill with chaotic squeals and chirps and the birds would take off flying circles around us. After two complete rounds they would return. Pecking the ground for edible treasures. It was beautiful and quiet, like a bubble of peace.

I couldn't stop thinking about this thing we call TIME. I had been in the same place and had 3 different experiences. Because of TIME each experience was different. TIME brought the separation of crowds and emptiness, dark and light, chaos and peace. The same exact place became a whole different world because TIME had passed and things had changed.

It reminded me of being a teenager and visiting the Sacred Grove. There I stood in the midst of giant trees and sunlight beaming through the leaves. It held a beautiful and sacred feeling. My experience was that of thoughts and remembering and honoring what had taken place. Yet, this same exact place, maybe even the same exact spot I was standing, was where the sacred beginnings of the restoration had taken place. Joseph Smith had been right there. He had seen a vision and his life had changed forever. Our world had changed forever. What if I had been standing there that spring morning in 1820? 

It was only TIME that separated me from that moment.

I have felt this separation of TIME on many occasions, especially when life changing experiences take place. I remember touring the hospital where my baby would be born. A hospital. A place I don't like to be. Bare walls filled with nurses, doctors, sicknesses and pain. In TIME, those same walls became barriers between the outside world and the sacred spot where my daughter began her new life. My own sacred grove I now cherished and loved. TIME had turned that hospital into my sacred ground where life had changed forever.

TIME. 

It's such an interesting thing. It moves slow, it moves fast...but it never ever stops. It separates me from the past and the future. 

It holds everything I have right here and right now. 

I often wonder what TIME will bring. But only TIME will tell.

Hermann Park Reflection Pool