IMAGINATION

This place is a campground, where weekenders escape the chaos of city life, for a more rustic one. If only for a short while. This place is where fathers teach their sons to fish, in one of the cold streams, where the water has drifted from afar. This is a place where young mothers enjoy the laughter of their toddlers, as they chase the many cottontails. And this is a place where the four seasons do make an appearance, if ever so subtly. But for me, this is a place where my imagination just seems to blossom, like the flowers, that climb the rustic fences. I am sitting here on high ground enjoying the nature that surrounds me. My quiet solitude is interrupted by a crow calling for his mate. It is fall, the trees are showing off their yellow leaves of autumn, but in this late morning sun, they are a brilliant gold. My mind goes back to another time, another world. I can almost see members of the Kumeyaay nation, the original dwellers here, as they live their lives among the many trees and impressive boulders which through time, have separated from the mountain. And I envision, the brown muscular men, helping the Spaniards build Old Mission Dam, rock by rock, so early California could begin to rise. Though time has had its way, the dam still exists, just a short distance from where I sit. An early example of man trying to control this magnificent environment, now known as Mission Trails Park. I am quite sure that these early Californians, had no idea about the complex world that would surround their earth in the year 2021. How some of the land would become highways, and birds would need to share the skies. And I know, as I sit here in peace, that I have no idea about the world that will surround this earth, hundreds of years from now. Will this place of beauty and tranquility become only a footnote in history? Or will it continue to exist for future generations to marvel and enjoy? Some say, “Nothing lasts forever.” But what do they know?

Alice Howard-krosch is a writer from Santee.