I was sitting by myself in my car in a shopping plaza parking lot, scrolling my phone for a moment before heading to my next destination when a mom and her two little kids took me back in time.

My three children stood together in the open space between the doors of a mostly empty subway car with bright eyes and big smiles.

It’s the last day of school before Spring Break starts. You’ve just attended your child’s Field Day or Picnic Day or It’s Not Break Yet But It Kind Of Is Day and all that time spent under the blazing sun surrounded by 800 screaming children has made you a little punchy.

The children demolished our playground this week. It graced our backyard for nearly a decade and now it’s gone.

I’ve been existing online for almost two decades now and during that time I’ve had one hard and fast rule. One binding commandment I swore I’d never break. That guiding principle: Under no circumstances will I ever post feet pics on the internet.

Here’s a fun fact about me: Green Day song lyrics and melodies occupy about 37 percent of my brain. Sometimes more depending on my mood and the time of year.