As I wind my way through the familiar streets to work each
morning the backdrop to my 12 minute commute seems busier than usual to me. The workers are out pouring concrete
and it’s before 8 o’clock. A new
neighbourhood park has magically sprouted from a rocky field of disarray. Colourful bobbles hang on the end of
tubes covered in bubble wrap of the newest splash pad to be. Young trees lie on their sides
protected in burlap waiting for the crew to lower them into their new home. A suburb has been growing on the sidelines of my shortcut to
work. It seems to have come from
nowhere, the rows and rows of
houses look endless instead of sparse as they did a year ago.
I wonder to myself how many kids venture past the orange
netting on the play structure when the workers go home at night. The kids and families in this
development must be craving their man made park after living in dust and
construction for over 2 years, not a sidewalk or tree in sight until this
week. I immediately feel a pang of guilt for coasting through the
freshly installed stop sign like all the others that morning.
All this hustle and bustle on the way to
work makes me think about my little piece of paradise that I’ve called home for
the past 5 ½ years. It too was the
same in its infancy, a forest and field, converted to construction zone, and
ultimately a 35 home subdivision.
Trucks and workers invading what used to be untouched land. The older neighbours tell stories
of how their kids used to catch frogs in the very place where my home stands
today. I wonder how different it
may have looked prior to the development, but I don’t have to go too far to
see.
I have been lucky enough to have enjoyed the beautiful
forest that stands tall right outside our front door. The beauty and accessibility to the woods is what drew
me to this special place and it will be the thing I miss most about living
here. I have run miles and worked
out life’s problems on these trails.
Cycled with my kids, taught them both how to skate on the pond and most
recently how to cross country ski.
Every visitor to our home is proudly shown “our woods” and it has become
a place that my children covet as though it were their very own.
I am hopeful the newcomers to Tofino Private will find the
beauty in our woods and love it as much as we have.
