The Future in One Picture

My former son in law, Darrell Forde scanned some pictures of my grandchildren and posted them on Facebook. I thought this one was particularily good. It was taken around 7 or 8 years ago, how time flies.

Nova, on the left, if he has his druthers, will be a world famous free climber. I expect him to be on the face of El Capitan in a few years breaking the record for the fastest climb. Lucrative sponsorships will follow and a free climb of Fitzroy in Patagonia (never been done) then he'll conquer other challenges. Until then if he can simply turn in his reading lists his mother will be happy. He reads all the time and told his mom, "the teachers all ready know I read alot of books." I suggested that a good lesson is "the jobs not done until the paperwork is done!" When he gets back to Santa Cruz after spending time with his other grandparents, he's off to Survival Camp.

Sophia just finished her Junior year at UCLA at 19. On her blog and Facebook page she lists herself as a bicycle mechanic, which, in fact, she she is. (the only woman mechanic at the UCLA Bike Exchange) Ms S is heading for Copenhagen to spend a year at the Urban Design School, when she finishes in Denmark, she'll have her degree and then graduate school. She can do anything she sets her sights on. She has already biked for 4 weeks in Europe and worked on an organic farm in Tuscany. She routinely bikes Centuries in under 8 hours. At her age I was lucky to get to Maple Lake and back.

Dory, the sleepy boy, the baby. Inquisitive, good with tools, voracious reader and fisherman. A few years ago, I asked him what he wanted for Christmas, he said, "a tool belt". I got him a set of Stanley Tools for kids. He can discuss anything from Elephant Seals and their mating habits, race car aerodynamics (ask Mike Griffin, former owner of the Panther Indy Car team) to micro climates. And he is a damn good cook. Cakes and I are taking him to Westport for a week next month. He and gramps are going to cook, fish, beach comb, ride our bikes, build fires at night and read, read, read.

If children are the future, these three will be big contributors. We need to help them as much as we can and leave them something to work with, like clean and abundant water, clean air and sustainable resources. They are our legacy and we owe it to them.

In a future post, you'll meet Grace Dickson, my NYU granddaughter. She is a force of nature.

Jan, (the Cakes) my wife has no blood in this, but you'd never know it. She loves these kids beyond recall and would throw down her life for them!

Everytime I get down, angry or pissed off at the world, I realize how fortunate I am.