Document text
http:// --> Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Obituaries Weather Archive Hot Topics Forum Photo Gallery Past Readers Polls Revels Etcetera Backpage O-Zone Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad Online Games Movie Preview September 18, 2006 Tales from the Crib: Borrowed Luxury By Jennifer Margulis Tidings Correspondent At 5:30 p.m. the beach suddenly empties out. Cries of children playing and adults chatting are replaced by the gentle lap-lap-lapping of the waves against the shore. Only a few people besides us remain: a woman and her teenage daughter (who lends me a pen) both listening to their iPods, a family of Europeans speaking a language-Hungarian? Romanian?-that I can't understand, and a lanky young man in a wet suit who embarks on a twilight swim with his father. Etani, my 2-year-old, whispers as he plays in the sand. With a funnel and two empty plastic food containers he concocts an elaborate soup of driftwood, shells, water, sand, and pine needles. His play is quiet and intense, as if he senses the calm at this secluded beach in Inverness. My husband and I have been coming to this area since before we were married, hiking past wild elk and biking down Mt Vision at break neck speed. My brother proposed to his wife on this beach. We come to this town of about 1,400 permanent residents on the Point Reyes peninsula because my aunt and uncle have a house here. "Remember, don't act too excited," my uncle Jeffrey cautioned my aunt Judy when the real estate agent called to say she had finally found a parcel of land she thought they would like. "Act nonchalant. We have to bargain." "We'll take it!" Jeffrey cried as soon as he saw the land. "We'll pay the asking price! How soon can you get in touch with the owners?" They paid for the land with money my grandfather, a poor, hard-working immigrant from Russia left to Judy. Then they refinanced the modest bungalow they bought in Oakland in 1978 (for $57,500. It's now worth at least $750,000) to pay for the construction on the house they had built for their family of four. It seems like such a mark of the upper class-to have a high-ceilinged, enormous, hand-designed home in what has become a destination point for the wealthiest tourists (Prince Charles recently dined at Inverness's poshest restaurant). It's a luxury my generation-most of whom have less earning power than our parents-will probably never be able to afford. My husband fills a bucket of wet sand for Etani. "Lift it over," my son commands. "A birthday cake," James says, "I made you a birthday cake because Etani's turning three soon." "But did you put some frosting?" Etani asks. "I did. Sugar frosting." "I LOVE sugar frosting!" my son squeals. The young man, back from his swim, has changed bank into his clothes and slung his wet suit over a branch to dry. He and his father put on baseball mitts, walk to an empty stretch of beach, and toss a softball back and forth. The sun disappears over the promontory and wind starts to chill us. "There's some sprinkles my cake," Etani sings, pouring sand on top of James's creation. "Here we go." The teenager and her mom gather their things together. It's a half-mile hike up a dirt path through the trees to the beach's parking lot. "You can keep the pen if you want," she says amiably. Perhaps borrowed luxury is the best kind. Jennifer Margulis is a professional writer, editor, and consultant. She is the editor of Toddler: Real-Life Stories of Those Fickle, Irrational, Urgent, Tiny People We Love and the author of Why Babies Do That: Baffling Baby Behavior Explained. She and her husband are co-writing a new book: about father baby bonding. You can visit her on-line at www.ToddlerTrueStories.com and read her column every Monday in the Ashland Daily Tidings. Current Comments: Lovely, lovely bit on California real estate. Let's see more!!! (not.) Steve - Japan - September 18th, 6:10 PM What is this and how is it a "tale from the crib?" What borrowed luxury? Anyone can go onto California beaches as they are all public property. It would really be great if we could hear less about Jennifer's life and actually get some good tips for child-raising. It seems with the beginning of school there could be something of substance added to this column. Can you find someone less in the clouds and more concerned with real life solutions for real challenges parents are facing today? Mike - Talent - September 20th, 12:26 PM I agree with Mike...it's been awhile since 'Tales' has had anything really worth reading. Either change the name of the column or the columnist..... Anna - Ashland OR - September 22nd, 3:40 PM Leave a Comment: Advertisement: Advertisement: Paid Advertising Inkjet Printers Student Loans Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Advertisement: Copyright © 2006 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved.