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Opinion Gopher Gulch: Grateful for Aurora’s generation
Gopher Gulch: Grateful for Aurora’s generation
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Some days are so perfect they sparkle and chime. Both summer and our magical surroundings help create conditions in which such days can occur, but true perfection usually requires time to marinate, and that can take years. The trick is to recognize the moment when those years come to fruition. I had such a day last week, a day that began marinating a few years ago, when Aurora first came to help me in the yard. We mowed, weeded and pruned, but we also examined bugs, gave physical check-ups to every reptile and amphibian we could catch and learned the 11 ways to put a wheelbarrow together. Only one way rolls. She was a freshman at Del Norte High that first spring, and I was a middle-aged child thrilled to have a playmate. Sometimes being a little kid in an aging body can be a lonely thing. I’m deeply grateful to her parents and grandparents for accepting me into their lives. Now Aurora’s home from college for the summer, working as a commercial fisherman with her dad and grandpa. She’s well on her way to a degree in Marine Biology, which helps explain why we were tidepooling at dawn during a minus 2.3-foot tide. I’d forgotten how much easier it is to walk a mile of beach than a hundred yards of slippery, slithery tidepool.
As Aurora explained to me the difference between limpets and chiton, I
had that deja vu feeling and a memory of explaining to her, years ago,
the difference between chickweed and speedwell. That was when I heard
the tinkling chimes of perfection. We had come full circle.
My playmate has become a beautiful, confident, well-educated woman. Best of all, she’s still willing to crawl around in the dirt or the ocean with me, exploring whatever presents itself, learning about life for the love of learning about life. It just doesn’t get any better than this. It was a glorious day — a forever memory. A life spent learning how the world works is a life well spent, and I’m thrilled that Aurora has chosen to learn and teach biology. Like most outings, ours had its hurtful elements, even though we both got home safe. While we were equally wet, stinky and hungry, I suffer the curse of perspective. I played hooky to explore those same tidepools 50 years ago. Then there were at least 10 times as many starfish, anemones and hermit crabs. There were more species. We saw no muscles, no eels, no small octopi tucked into hidey holes. There were few rock crabs and nearly half the starfish we found were dead. In spite of the glorious smells, the scream of oyster catchers and the beauty of brown pelicans in breeding plumage, our beloved ocean is in trouble. I’m grateful that Aurora’s generation is beginning to save what’s left. And like every biology field trip, there are questions remaining. Why do Asian chefs wrap sushi in nori when sea lettuce has so much more flavor? |
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