A flashback to my childhood – Irene with my brothers and sister at Green Lake .

Green Lake came to my mind this winter as a cherished place in my heart, where I was happy and could lay down all my worries, and could relax; a place where I matter and once laughed and played; A Holy Place in the wilderness for camping. We all need places like this to hang onto.

I recall that as a child, I loved hiking with a backpack to Green Lake in the High Sierra Mountains. My heart belongs in Green Lake, a wilderness lake nestled thousands of feet above the valleys. I was dazzled by lights, and reflections on the lake during the day; and dazzled again at night by the brightest moon and starry night. We could see every star and meteor shower with greatest of clarity from my sleeping bag with my brothers and sisters, because we were high above the city lights and the smog, breathing thin and crisp mountain air. Oh how I loved camping there. At this time of year Green Lake is surely swaddled in snow and frozen over. But as soon as the spring and summer comes, the snows will melt and the trails will beckon the humans again.