The Need for a Home

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At the same time, my mother was pondering her own future, wondering how long she would be able to manage her two acres. Succumbing to societal pressure, she sporadically views her 74 years as a fragility, instead of as a strength that has given her a historical view of the world as well as intuitive wisdom. The impulse is to herd the elderly to town where they will have a less demanding life. This tendency taken to its logical conclusion terminates in an institution where they are stripped of most of their possessions and sit in line to wait for death. From my mid-life vantage point, I see my mother as remarkably active and capable. Granted, when the pressure has passed, Mom will proclaim, "I'm not leaving! This is my home. I love it here!" And I cheer her on. Where would she be without her own home and garden — the place that she built with her husband, my father? Some say not to cling to the past. Yet I perceive the essence of roots, the nurturing fingers clutching the earth and offering their splendid gift of grounding. And I can't help but wonder if some of us aren't like the precious lady's slippers — destined to be diminished or even destroyed by the process of transplanting.

One alternative that Mom pondered was selling a portion of her land. If it had a trailer on it, so much the better.

Until Mom was ready to make a move, my daughter Natalia, Ben, and I could rent the trailer, and for now at least, we could have a home.

One year ago, we chose a site on the most undesirable part of the acreage. My basic impulse was to bolt for the birch and cottonwood stand on a hill at the back of the property, but access and water would have been extremely expensive. So we settled in a grassy southwest corner nudging the Squilax-Anglemont Road, where even trees had shunned the soil and no forest would have to be sacrificed.

As much as I loathed this road after the peace of the forest, I also recognized it as the artery that unites the North Shuswap community. The year-round population of 4,000, which mushrooms during the tourist months, is sprawled along a 30-mile stretch of highway from St. Ives to Squilax. The north shore residents are an incongruous blend of farmers, realtors, retired folks, mill workers, natives, loggers, old-timers, and back-to-the-landers. Lacking a nucleus of shops and services, the local people are perpetually on the go to Chase, 30 miles west, and further on to Salmon Arm and Kamloops. Some also commute to work and school in these centers.

Unfortunately, as with many lovely places, Shuswap Lake is under siege by the pressure of increasing population, coupled with a lack of local control over development. Attempts have been made by the community to get a grip on the situation.

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