Dear Bernard,
On the day you were born it was a sunny Saturday in October. Your dad spent the whole day hauling leaves. Your mom was coming off of a busy week at her Eye Clinic (Fall Frame Sale!)
You weren’t supposed to come for eighteen more days. But everyone was ready to meet you and you couldn’t wait one more day to be born into your charmed life. Tons of love. Lots of community. Space to grow and things to do.
It looked a little like this:
As the newborn haze wears off and you start to grow up here, at first this charmed life will seem normal. Getting to nestle in with nature any time you want. The wildlife right outside your back door. The year-long cycle of living at a resort: prepare, SUMMER, clean up, then rest & recharge (repeat yearly).
You won’t think it’s funny that your dad can take apart a cabin and put something magnificent back in its place – with his own two hands.
You won’t think it’s strange to always have a spare water heater in the garage.
And when your dad spends a Saturday afternoon building you a catapult, you might even think that is what Saturdays are like at everyone’s house (spoiler alert: they’re not!)
You will think it’s normal for new friends to just show up at your house every Saturday from May to September.
You will think everyone knows how to drive a ski boat and back up a trailer and make a perfect ice cream cone.
It will be second nature for you to build a bonfire, plant the right tree in the right spot and stick your hands into a flat of night-crawlers to divide them into cups of 12.
And before you finish learning to read you will know where to find the perch and how to bait your own hook.
And then one day you will leave this place. You might go off to college or find a job. You might travel and explore the world. Or you might set off to find civilization and try pizza delivery.
When you’re out there you will realize that where you grew up wasn’t exactly normal. The world outside of here will feel fast and sometimes frantic. It will also be so convenient with everything you could ever want at your fingertips and seriously, people will deliver food right to your door!!!
You will go to a restaurant and not know anyone. Your habit of waving at every car you drive past will slowly fade away.
You will find art and culture and music and sports. You will discover public transportation and downtowns (and not the kind where you park in the middle of the street like old-fashioned horse and buggies). You will pay for parking and plan around rush hour.
You will meet amazing people and see beautiful things. But you won’t have the same space you had here.
And after all of that you might wander back – or you might stay out there. Living and creating something different.
But wherever you go, whatever you do: be true to yourself. Find what you love and do more of it. Give love and get love. Be Kind. Use your privilege for good. And know that you will always have a big, loving Brookside family waiting for you here.
Love,
Auntie JoJo
Auntie JoJo is the proud auntie to 10 nieces and nephews. She knows exactly what it’s like to grow up on a resort because a few years back – she did it herself. Now she is busy owning the place and she still feels the magic.
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