I am not hip. I am a late middle aged Dad. I have had two children which in itself is not environmentally enlightened, considering the amount of resources they will use in their lifetime.
I once belonged to an environmental organization that discouraged children and dogs from coming on their field trips. Dogs trampled plants, which was bad. Children slowed the trip down, were noisy, and were a basic nuisance to the other adults. I once showed a few slides of wildflowers to this group, and mentioned how it is a habit for me and my youngest child to get up on weekends and head up to the mountains for a morning of wildflower watching and picture-taking. But I veered off into political uncorrectness when in joking I said how I would bribe her with a trip to McDonalds. Bad. Fast food is not environmentally sensitive.
About six years ago I planned a trip to take my kids to California and Disneyland, a very suburban uncool thing to do. I used a computer program to plan our route and how much we should spend a day. We camped on the beach and enjoyed the cool moist air of the ocean, found shells, explored tide pools at low tide. My wife and older daughter saw dolpins diving through the high surf. We roasted marshmallows in our campfire, took long morning walks on the beach, followed by coffee, cocoa and hot cinnamon rolls at our favorite beachside stand.
But the highlight of the trip for these kids was their first trip to Disneyland, which for a 5 year old and a 11 year old is pretty much kid heaven. I had grown up near Disneyland and had been there many times. It was different seeing it again with my own kids by my side though. I took pictures of them with Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, we went down Splash Mountain and the Matterhorn, through the Haunted House and the Small World, saw the parade of lights, and bought souvenirs in the shops on Main Street. At the end of the day I took a picture of my two kids on a bench in the courtyard of Main Street. Both have a tired look on their face; their heads resting on their palms, elbows on their knee. But the look on their faces is one of exhausted happiness, of a dream come true in their young lives.
We got to Disneyland when it opened and stayed til near closing. After dark we positioned ourselves for the 10pm fireworks display. I felt the same way my kids looked in that picture, happy and tired, and thrilled with the culmination of our dream trek to Disneyland. I felt love and warmth and blessed by my family.
There I was, standing tall, with my arms around my two children's shoulders, the breathtaking display of light and colors over the Matterhorn in the background.
I will have to accept being an unhip middle aged Father. There are rewards to having kids.