Category: Musings

I’m taking classes at UML. My first writing exercise for English Comp is to write about a “special place” that is meaningful to me. I spend a lot of time at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. It is my “special place”…

When I think of a “special place”, the first place that comes to mind is the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island in Newburyport, Massachusetts. As a child growing up in West Newbury, Massachusetts in the 1960’s it was legal to camp on Sandy Point, which is the southern tip of Plum Island and the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. As a small child, I grew up spending a few summers in my early life, camping with my family and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins on my mother’s side of the family. Days were spent climbing dunes, building sand castles, racing snails and simply living simply. Those early childhood memories of the Refuge, fuel a deep abiding love for the 7 mile stretch of estuary land along the coast of Massachusetts.

The Refuge, as folks acquainted with refer to it, is unique in its diverse landscape and wildlife. Now, decades after my childhood and a 20 year stretch of living in Los Angeles, I am drawn to the Refuge at least once a week to revel in its beauty, and immerse my self in the sheer peace of mind that being there invokes in me. Each visit is a new view as the skies, tides and seasons change to colors and contrasts of the Refuge on a daily, if not hour to hour, minute to minute basis cycle. In my world, the Refuge is church. It is there I go to seek solace. It is there I go to celebrate. I have lived on both coasts of United States, visited the south of France, Paris, London and Amsterdam and still for every other place, I have lived or visited, no place can claim the designation of my “special place” more than the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge.

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