(no subject)
My Catskill Heritage
When I think of times when I was younger, I remember running through the forests with my older brother swimming in the streams with my sisters. In my memories of playing on the swing set, there are mountains in the background.
I cannot remember ever being outside of the Catskill Park for more than two weeks at a time. The Catskills are my home.
My past, my present and my future ambitions all show my love for this space on the earth.
I grew up in Shokan with the reservoir just behind my house. I can remember being four years old and riding across the road above the reservoir. My father toed my sister and I in a small cart, which he hooked onto his bike. Many summers passed in which I spent the majority of my time hiking back to see the beautiful waters, many times just as the sun set over the blue and green mountains. I would ride my bicycle over the dam and the walking strip that I had now been riding on for almost fifteen years. I went there with my friends and talked about life on evenings when the moon illuminated the waters like a giant gem. We would watch the late night fishermen and always talk about getting permits to fish just so that we could go out in a boat and stay there as the sun sets.
Recently, I saw that I had to move on. Living with my parents became stressful. Life got in the way of simple joy. I had to leave home, but my love for this area kept me from moving too far away. I went to live in Woodstock and in West Hurley where I still live today. I am constantly hiking the same old mountains and camping on every one that I can. I sometimes suffer through cold nights on mountaintops just so that I can have the view of the sun rising past the river.
Soon, I intend to leave the Catskills and join the great herds of young people who go off to live in the cities. I will get my teachings, make my friends, and find all the things that a city can give me and then return home. I can stay away from the stars and the clean air only so long. I will then travel the globe, seeing all that I can take into my mind from every culture that I can observe. I will watch the way that the world changes and be a part of it. I will learn everything that can be learned in a lifetime of travel. I will travel to as many places as are humanly possible, but in between each, I will live in my beloved Catskill Mountains. I will leave time and time again until I am an old man, and then, when my travels have filled me up with knowledge and experience, I will come home to my childhood. I will go and sit on the walkway that faces the Ashokan Reservoir and watch the stars. I’ll look at the boats on the waters and think of old times. I will think of how simple everything used to be and then I will remember that it still is.
The Catskills are my home.
When I think of times when I was younger, I remember running through the forests with my older brother swimming in the streams with my sisters. In my memories of playing on the swing set, there are mountains in the background.
I cannot remember ever being outside of the Catskill Park for more than two weeks at a time. The Catskills are my home.
My past, my present and my future ambitions all show my love for this space on the earth.
I grew up in Shokan with the reservoir just behind my house. I can remember being four years old and riding across the road above the reservoir. My father toed my sister and I in a small cart, which he hooked onto his bike. Many summers passed in which I spent the majority of my time hiking back to see the beautiful waters, many times just as the sun set over the blue and green mountains. I would ride my bicycle over the dam and the walking strip that I had now been riding on for almost fifteen years. I went there with my friends and talked about life on evenings when the moon illuminated the waters like a giant gem. We would watch the late night fishermen and always talk about getting permits to fish just so that we could go out in a boat and stay there as the sun sets.
Recently, I saw that I had to move on. Living with my parents became stressful. Life got in the way of simple joy. I had to leave home, but my love for this area kept me from moving too far away. I went to live in Woodstock and in West Hurley where I still live today. I am constantly hiking the same old mountains and camping on every one that I can. I sometimes suffer through cold nights on mountaintops just so that I can have the view of the sun rising past the river.
Soon, I intend to leave the Catskills and join the great herds of young people who go off to live in the cities. I will get my teachings, make my friends, and find all the things that a city can give me and then return home. I can stay away from the stars and the clean air only so long. I will then travel the globe, seeing all that I can take into my mind from every culture that I can observe. I will watch the way that the world changes and be a part of it. I will learn everything that can be learned in a lifetime of travel. I will travel to as many places as are humanly possible, but in between each, I will live in my beloved Catskill Mountains. I will leave time and time again until I am an old man, and then, when my travels have filled me up with knowledge and experience, I will come home to my childhood. I will go and sit on the walkway that faces the Ashokan Reservoir and watch the stars. I’ll look at the boats on the waters and think of old times. I will think of how simple everything used to be and then I will remember that it still is.
The Catskills are my home.