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Heart-Land

 


There are places in life that hold our hearts, places that when we return we find ourselves, the part we left. We pick right up, the remembering, the joy we felt while we were there and remember also the tears we shed. The pieces of our heart are still there. 

This is such a place, this camp in the hills of Santa Barbara, California. My journey in this area began long ago before I knew about this turn on Stagecoach Rd. It began when I was 10 and watching my stepfather Bill, an ironworker put in the last connection to the bridge that would bring the people from Santa Barbara over the valley and onto the road to Santa Ynez. They would bypass this spot unless they were looking. 


We were looking and we found this place, this place holds many memories for our family. I started working in the kitchen in 1991, both my sons worked summers here and swam, dived and explored all the trails here. Bing and I moved here in 1996 to work full time and became part of a family, the Ryan's. We were here for the birth of the first daughter and stayed for many of the 6 sons and daughters that were added including the beautiful adoption of a son.

We recently returned to the Santa Barbara area and were lucky enough to reconnect with this beautiful family including our friend Bobbi who also worked there. She's right there under my arm and that beautiful redhead on the end is the baby girl all grown up now.

Yes this place still holds big pieces of our hearts and the hearts of those we love and when we step back on the land we can almost hear the sounds of the laughter, feel the joy of our gatherings, a wedding, a 25th wedding anniversary, baptisms and water competitions in the pool. The memory of the rains that brought down a hillside  and almost took out our son but for the need for him to move his truck. The kitchen where young people learned to serve and work hard, a lesson in life I believe they won't forget. 


Part of the journey and a part of our hearts forever...

 

Comments

  1. SparkyNovember 29, 2020 at 9:36 AM

    So many good memories there! Love that place and the people we met along the way.

    ReplyDelete

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