On a sweltering August day, I waited for my friend and his family at the park with my family, uncertain about the next few hours of my life. I was going to be at my first picnic mainly because I usually stay at home doing  homework, reading, or playing video games to pass the time instead of going outside. I stood there waiting for my friend in a dark t-shirt and pants. Not a good choice of clothes for a day like this, I thought while standing there. I didn’t know why I decided to wear the clothes I chose in the middle of August but I did it anyway. As I waited for my friend’s family, I felt the breeze flow past me, smelling the pine cones from the nearby pine trees. I was sweating so much I felt as if my entire head was crying. Scratch that, this is the worst choice I ever made in wearing clothes for a day, I think wondering when this heat nightmare will end for me. I see my friend’s car pull up and out comes my friend Matt, his parents, and his little sister, Alice, that my brother, Karshan likes spending time with. As they come I see the rice and all the spices they are bringing with it and as I smell it, I think, I’m starving and now that we finally got to stop fasting, I think I’m going to eat a mountain tonight.

But I pushed my thought about food away when they got to us.“Hey Guys,” said Matt. “Hey Matt, What’s up?” I said greeting him. “The sky,” he answered in a straight face before we both burst out laughing. It was a code Matt made up to make sure we weren’t aliens or robots in disguise which was weird but I went along with him anyway. “I brought a frisbee with me. Let’s see how long we can keep the frisbee from falling to the ground,”I say.
“Sure. Sounds good to me, let’s go!” yells Matt as he races off trying to get to the baseball field first but I beat him even with his head start. We all stand on the bases throwing a frisbee if no one is playing baseball on the field at the park.  Our old record was 5 but our new record is now 10. We also played tennis on the court nearby afterwards. Now our parents joined us causing us to have a 1v1 tournament in which I won against Matt in the finals with sheer dumb luck. Everyone was tired and hungry from all the games we did so we went back to our picnic area to eat. My mom brought some basmati rice and roti and Matt’s family brought white rice with chicken curry and other spices that were delicious making it look like we’re eating at an Indian Cuisine. I decided to put a little bit of everything in a roti making it look like a taco even though I despise tacos. When I ate it, I felt as I was in heaven eating. The cool breeze with the swoosh of trees made it feel perfect.

After we ate our parents watched us play tag on the playground and we played hide-and-seek afterwards. Alice was the best hider since she was the smallest person in the game making it hard to find her. Her shirt also kept her camouflaged from us when we looked for her so we pass her without even realizing it. “We don’t notice you to make you the last person found,” Matt jokes but we all know that we never saw her in the bushes and the trees when we looked for her. I was it most of the time but I like to be a seeker so I didn’t complain. I did start think people used X-Ray to find me first but in reality, I was hard to hide with me being so large. I only had about two places to hide so I pretty much always got found first unless they find someone else along the way. After about our 4th round, I found a place no one ever looked before causing me to be the last one found.I moved when everyone else was found but on the last round, I let people find me finally and told them what I did. “Wow…,” Karshan said shaking his head.”You are the fattest ninja I have ever seen,” I stared at him for about 5 seconds before I punched him in the arm. Alice and Matt grinned when I explained, “It’s brotherly love. You’re just lucky you have a sister Matt.” Out of all of our 10 rounds, I ended up tieing with Alice because we all caught on and looked at trees and bushes more carefully making me and Alice both have six wins each. My brother had three wins and Matt had one win. Matt chose a number and we had to guess it and Alice was closer so she was the official winner of the game.

Then we all had a insult challenge making insults and seeing which was the worst. We only could make one insult to each other. “Yo Mama so ugly, the Great Depression started because everyone in America saw a picture of her,” I told Matt. Alice judged that I won after what I said to Matt. It didn’t really make sense but it counted. My brother tried reusing the insult before but it wasn’t as funny causing him to be in 3rd place. We had to leave when it got dark but it was 9:00 PM so I couldn’t complain much. We waved as Matt’s family left and as we walked to our car I thought about how fun it was at the picnic and then I compared my day to day life to this event. Man, my life is duller than I thought. At least I knew I was boring my family to death but I didn’t know I was missing this much, I think amazed. I made a resolution to go outside more often by camping or doing something else leading me to join a Boy Scout troop and being in a troop got me to try things I’ve never tried before like white water rafting. I realize now how much I truly missed out on before leading my life like a schedule at school. “So…,” I said as we drove away. “When are we going to India?” I asked smiling.