46.

Today I went back to one of my favorite childhood parks - McKay Park here in Jefferson City. While I was walking around the pond a lady approached me on the trail. She had what looked to be an antennae sticking out of her head. I couldn't tell what it was from afar - I thought maybe it was a portable radio or something. As she got closer I realized it was actually a long brown feather that she had stuck straight up out of her ponytail. "Fourty-six!" she said excitedly to me. "Happy birthday?" I thought to myself, wondering if she were just excited about her birthday. "Fourty-six geese in the park!" She was so excited about the geese - an animal that I have always found to be sort of scary, especially when they swarm a park like this one. I have scary memories about them hissing and chasing me when I would run around the park. I have always equated the geese in McKay Park with scenarios similar to Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds." It was fun to see her so excited about the geese. As I continued to circle I looked at the geese with new eyes. They really are beautiful animals - and goslings are ADORABLE. I captured a couple of pictures...

I have run in this park for years. I remember this being a place for conditioning runs during Winter training for Spring soccer season. I also used to fish here with a dear family friend that I called PawPaw. He taught me my love for watching sports on tv and also was the first person who really took an interest in showing me how to fish.

It is also the site of one of the better hills for sledding during snow days.

My uncle Ted and I used to come to the basketball courts at the bottom of the hill to play one-on-one when I was in high school.

In our work of physical activity research, we call smaller parks like this "pocket parks" because they don't take up a lot of space. I love this pocket park - it brings back fond memories, and has allowed me to create some new ones today with the nice lady, her feather, and the 46 geese.