In May of 1991, I was 28 and had only lived in California for 3 years. It would be several years before I was (FINALLY) diagnosed as having ADHD, and (at long last) medicated into something less than a the hyperkinetic verbal Tasmanian devil I had been for most of my life. I had known of a place in Northern California where (gasp!) people wandered around sans clothing in the sun, enjoying natural hot springs, and generally being human.
As a recovering catholic I had been terrified of going there. In '91 I finally got the courage to go participate in a Pagan festival, Ancient Ways, and figured that would be a little less scary than going by myself. So I borrowed a tent and sleeping bag, and made my way up to Middletown in my VW Fox (remember those?) and preceded to have... well, an epiphany. A spiritual awakening. All the things that made my NYC nature roll it's eyes and make snarky comments about "granola eaters" in an accent without the letter "R" to be found.
This past weekend, the Valley Fire in Northern California burned Harbin Hot Springs to the ground.
More past the glowing orange ember of bitterness.