CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Not everything in my life was filled with sadness, though. I had recently met a beautiful girl named Sammy, and we had made a strong connection.
Her family lived in a nice home near downtown. I have many fond memories of celebrating Christmas and Thanksgiving with them, both in Sonora and Los Angeles. I enjoyed sitting by the fireplace listening to Christmas music and sipping port wine with them. The feeling of coziness stays with me to this day.
I also loved taking drives in Sammy’s Mustang, which was a lot cooler and faster than my old Dodge Colt. We spent some time hiking in Yosemite National Park, which is famous for its gigantic sequoia trees, beautiful waterfalls, and many hiking trails. Yosemite National Park often reminded me of places I had seen in cartoons and movies when I was a kid. This had to be the place where Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Willow, Robin Hood, and Alice lived. This also had to be the place where many of the animals from La Fontaine’s Fables hung around.
Sammy and I dated for the next two years or so, but it eventually ended with a mutual breakup. We were both still immature and trying to find out who we were. We bonded quite strongly over music; she had introduced me to the Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” and “Catch” and Led Zeppelin’s “Over the Hills and Far Away” and “The Rain Song,” and I had introduced her to Supertramp’s ”Sister Moonshine” and “A Soapbox Opera” and Steely Dan’s “Brooklyn (Owes the Charmer Under Me)” and “Any Major Dude Will Tell You.” Looking back, I think we both learned a lot from each other about many things in life, including the importance of having patience, compromising, and being tolerant and understanding.
I recently found out that Sammy’s mother passed away a few years ago. She was a huge Neil Diamond and Elvis Presley fan. I will always remember her as a strong, good-hearted woman who introduced me to port wine and Diamond’s “Cracklin’ Rosie” (which I listened to over and over for the first three months) and taught me how not to ever get tired of listening to Elvis.
As I’ve already said, that part of California had a tremendous amount of truly breathtaking natural beauty, and my friends and I made the most of our surroundings. I had a lot of fun exploring the trails around Pinecrest Lake, located about thirty miles east of Sonora, with my friends Charles and Tom. They both knew the area well and all the best spots to hike to. At an elevation of 5,600 feet, surrounded by woods, the state of California stocks the lake with trout so people can fish almost year-round.
My uncle had taken me fishing back home a few times. I am not much of a fisherman myself, but it was always possible to see people casting lines into the water. There’s also a lot of boating and camping that goes on at Pinecrest Lake, but what I enjoyed was just walking the trails, winding around through the trees, and feeling the sunlight filter through the branches onto my face. There’s just something about the way the clean, fresh air smells and feels in your lungs when you’re out in nature that’s genuinely invigorating. No matter how burned out you may be feeling, a day spent in nature will fill you with life again.
I’m not sure if this is what the Mamas & the Papas had in mind when they wrote “California Dreamin’,” but it felt like I was living the dream. I was surrounded by many good-hearted and interesting folks from whom I learned a lot. I was often broke, but I was living in California and had a steady job and a good circle of friends around me. Most importantly I felt accepted and valued.
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