Nobody Had A Phone
When my family of four are all together, we often walk across the street to the junior high parking lot after dinner and kick a tiny ball around with our feet. You may have seen “Hacky Sack” when you were on a college campus or at a music festival. You gather in a “circle” and only use your feet to keep a soft tiny sack in the air. We started playing Hacky Sack in 2020, when the shelter in place order was in effect. We tried going to the park to play, but the city had made a lot of rules at that time and we were told by a police officer that Hacky Sack wasn’t on the approved activity list; we needed to bring a soccer ball or yoga mat to be in the park. Weird, right? So, the parking lot became our place. We even found an orange cone nearby and marked our parking space; saved for the “Sanders Family Hacky Sack Game.”
One of the reasons I love playing Hacky Sack is it brings out a lot of laughter. Maybe it’s the different hats my husband wears every time we play or the hilarious face he makes when he tries for a blind back kick. Maybe it’s my daughter saying “wooooo” as she kicks the sack high in the air, sometimes so high it ends up on the roof of the school. One day my son ran after one of those high kicks and we all followed him, my husband yelling, “WE’VE GOT YOU.” My son ended up making an incredible save and kicking the sack back to where we all should have been, but since we had all chased him there was no one there to catch it. “WE’VE GOT YOU” has become one of our family phrases.
While we were playing Hacky Sack the other night, we heard some music coming from the park nearby, so we decided to see what was going on. We wandered into a concert in the park and a big crowd of people on the grass. We noticed a father and son playing Hacky Sack and they were highly skilled! We edged toward the back of the crowd and my husband served me the Hacky Sack and we kicked it a couple of times. As soon as the father saw us, he and his son came over to play. They didn’t care that we weren’t as skilled as they were, they were excited to find a “circle” to play with (this is where we learned the meaning of a Hacky Sack “circle”). With music in the background and the sun dipping lower in the sky, we played with our new friends. Finally, it was getting too dark to see, and we ended the game. The dad was interested in playing again another night and asked if anyone had a phone so we could keep in touch. Everyone in the circle opened their hands and said no, we don’t have have our phones with us.
Inside I felt like this was a moment to celebrate. No one had brought a phone. Where I live, this is unprecedented. We were all just enjoying kicking around a little bean bag as the sun went down, not worrying about who was texting us or taking a picture to share on social media. It was just a moment in life to experience. We all need more of these kind of moments in our lives: space to unplug, space to breathe, space to live and interact with others and enjoy the warm breeze of a summer night.
We decided that we might see each other again and we told them that we play at the junior high parking lot most evenings. But, since that time we have been traveling and my daughter left for college, so who knows if we will have another game together. Maybe we just had a fun evening to remember.