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Community Corner

Back to Nature at The Garden of Eden

Teenagers actually CAN have fun without their electronic gadgets.

Santa Cruz is such a great place to raise children. There’s so much natural beauty, live music and great people. Yet, I’ve noticed that our local teenagers don’t always take the time to appreciate all that we have to offer here in The SC. They spend so many of their waking hours plugged into electronics that their eyes are glazed over for most of the day.

This summer, my twins are 16 years old. Let me tell you, I’ve read tons of books, researched, talked to friends and done therapy about being a parent to teenagers. The idea of raising twin teenagers scared me to death, so I made sure that I went into this with my eyes wide open.

My daughter, Addison, looks forward to our annual trip to The Garden of Eden. She and her teeny-bop friends look forward to our trek just a few miles up Highway 9 to a swimming hole on the San Lorenzo River. I had convinced myself that last year was it for this day trip, because Addi was getting her driver's license. She’d no longer want to hang out with mom in nature for a day. Boy, was I wrong.

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It’s almost as if she needed me to unplug her and her friends for the day. Perhaps, these girls needed some back-to-nature time and were not able to do it themselves. I don’t know and I didn’t want to ask questions. (Rule 1: Never ask teenagers questions.)

Before we even packed the car and cooler, I confiscated the three girls’ cellphones and iPods. I made my now-famous announcement about our day of appreciating the beauty of Santa Cruz. I’m always amazed that the Garden of Eden is this five-minute drive from our city, yet it’s like you’re 500 miles away from civilization. We didn’t see anyone else, even though there were many cars parked up at the top. If we had seen anyone, chances are the girls would NOT have allowed me to take their pictures hugging our beautiful Santa Cruz redwood trees.

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On the bank of our San Lorenzo River, we spread out our towels and set up our “camp” for the day. I kept waiting for these crazy teenage girls to want to escape my presence, disappear for three hours and go looking for “hot dudes.”  They didn’t. If I’d been wearing socks, it would have shocked them off. The girls worked on their suntans, swam, splashed, romped and played—all with me.

If you have a teenager, your mouth is probably hanging open right now.

I know.

It’s unbelievable. I will cherish this day for the rest of my life, remember it with such fondness and love, and keep my fingers crossed that my daughter will come back from college and the real world to spend a day with me enjoying this beautiful place we call home.

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