For the Children . . .
When I was a kid, we spent our summers at my grandparents' cabin in a small mountain community called Camp Nelson in the Sequoia National Forest. The cabin was a very tiny two bedroom, one bathroom structure - but it had a huge deck with lovely views.
From the deck of the cabin, we could see beautiful ponderosa pines and one giant sequoia tree just down the road, and the Tule River meandered through the community right at the bottom of the hill. The Tule could be a vicious raging beast further down the mountain, but up where we were, it was smaller and friendlier, particularly in the summer. My grandmother would fish in the Tule and we would sometimes join her, but more often we swam in its pools while she caught her limit of trout.
Going to the cabin meant taking long hikes past ferns that were taller than we were on paths that wandered past other cabins. We always speculated about the lives of the people in those cabins: How many little kids did they have? Were they like us? Were their kids filled to the brim with fascination and curiosity? Did they go on hikes past our cabin? Those hikes created in us a love for mountains and rivers that has never abated. We learned early to enjoy all of nature.
At some point during the summer, someone would set up a makeshift movie theater in one of the meadows and my grandparents would pop some popcorn, put it in a bag, and walk over to the meadow with us, carrying blankets for us to sit on while watching the movie. We spent our summers doing all of those things children do with such abandon. I have never forgotten the pleasure of those summers.
Living here in Spring Valley, I often think of Camp Nelson. The lifestyle is similar, and it sometimes seems that the world has moved past our small piece of heaven. It brings back my own childhood when I see our neighborhood kids riding their bikes and congregating on our narrow dirt roads to watch some piece of wildlife or make plans for their next great adventure.
How much better could it be for a child than to live in Spring Valley? We have such a wonderful opportunity to bond with nature and our children are safe from human predators, or as safe as it is possible to be in this day and age. It is not at all unusual to see teenagers walking over to the island to lie under the sun and talk, or just visit at one another's houses. How often do you think that happens in the city?
Let us appreciate what we have - the beauty, the peace, the wonderful variance in weather, the views, our common fellowship, our safety, the chance to provide our children with a unique environment that they will never forget.