My First Year: July 2nd: Bronx Summer Stage and St. Mary's

Sunday, July 3, 2011

July 2nd: Bronx Summer Stage and St. Mary's

The other day my First was seeing Freshly Ground in concert at Summer Stage in Central Park. While I was there I received a book that had the calender of events and the locations as to where that event would be taking place. I had no idea that Summer Stage ran in all five boroughs and while I was looking through the book a show that would be taking part in the Bronx caught my eye and I decided this would be my First for today (July 2nd).
As you may have gathered by now from my previous post or through my other blog http://teenmomny.blogspot.com/ I love the arts and take my daughter along so she can learn about the arts and how wonderful they are.
After doing a few things around the house and spending far too much money at Target (AGAIN! ) we were off to Saint Mary's Park, one of the locations of Summer Stage in the Bronx. As I was going to transfer to the 2 train I learned that the 2 was not running and so I would have to take a free shuttle bus to Saint Mary's Park. Being that I had no idea where the park was, because I'd never been to it I wasn't sure where I was going but got on the free shuttle bus anyways.
My First First of the day: Getting on a free MTA shuttle bus
After getting off at the wrong stop and using the hell out of Google Maps on my phone my daughter and I finally arrived at Saint Mary's Park.
My second First of the day: Going to Saint Mary's Park.
While walking through the park it bought me back to my childhood. When summer/life was about riding bikes, eating and the world didn't seem so big because your world consisted of your house and your neighborhood. Now Saint Mary's can be what some would call a "ghetto" park but to me it was a park. A place where families and friends gather to enjoy one an other's company. An as I looked around I saw that everyone, moms, dads, babies and grandmas were out bbq-ing, dancing, running, laughing, playing cards or dominoes next to their loud boom boxes (yes there were boom boxes out ) and just so carefree for at least a few hours out of the day.
ahhhh memories :)
After walking through the park and back in time I found the location of Summer Stage and watched Dance Iquail's performances.
My third First of the day: Watching Dance Iquail perform.
This was also the First time I enjoyed Summer Stage at another local other than the main stage in Central Park.
One thing that I appreciate about dance is the story and the message that is expressed through the carefully controlled fluid motions of the dancers. My daughter was bugging to go play because that's what all the other kids her age were doing but I didn't let her. Why? because she can do that anytime and watching the arts in motion is more important, to me at least. Unfortunately the sun was going down and since I had no idea how to get back to the 4 train station from where I was and didn't want to be lost at night we left early. However, the performances were wonderful and bought analytical thinking to a higher level for me.
And as we walked towards the bus stop I noticed something that made me smile, my daughter was dancing just like the dancers on stage were! Turns out making her sit and watch the show is and will be the best choice from here on out.
Yesterday like all days was a greatd day!
Total First for July 2nd: 3!