Escape from New York City: A Childhood Memory
By DIANE LEON
When you're born in New York
City you've got to find nature any place you can. Even if you think of your firescape as the great outdoors. To
make things a little tougher my parents were divorced and I ended up living with my uncle, aunt and grandmother. What I got
from my family and how I discovered nature made an impact upon my life. Weekly visits to Central Park and a vacation with
my Mom to the Adirondack Mountains were important lessons in life.
As I look back now I can trace how my love
for nature developed. The apartment I lived in with my Aunt Helen, Uncle Jimmy and Nonnie was stuck in the heart of Manhattan
of the 1950s. The giant iron structure, the Third Avenue El train was outside of our windows in the front room and in the
back we faced an old backyard that had a weeping willow tree. I loved that tree. When I complained about never having any
green around my family would say, "Hey, don't complain you got a tree outside."
Every weekend my
Dad took me to Central Park. I climbed trees and rocks and to me the park was a vast wilderness to explore. Central Park became
my escape. Once I was inside the park I felt alive.
Sometimes my father would tell me stories about his childhood in
the park and how he would swim in the lake and in the East River. Of course he was not supposed to do that, but it was fun
listening to
him.
My mother lived in a studio apartment a block away and worked in a restaurant six days
a week. She promised to take me on a real vacation to the mountains. I was so excited. We planned a week on Lake George in
the Adirondack Mountains of New York State. My uncle Jimmy, who was like a father to me filled my head with the anticipation
of train travel. During the Depression he was a hobo and crossed America a few times looking for work. His love of trains
and stories of the Iroquois Indians instilled a sense of adventure in me. As I packed my own small suitcase I felt as if something
important was taking place and it was. I was going on vacation with my Mom.
When we arrived after the long ride
we took a cab to the lodge. We had a small room about a block from the lake. I quickly called my uncle Jimmy and told him
about the train ride and how close we were to the lake. What impressed me the most was all I could see were mountains, rows
of trees and the sky. All this without New York City surrounding it. I was really in the country. My mother and I had
breakfast
at a local coffee shop and headed out to the beach. The smell of fresh mountain air, the sound of birds singing and the view
of the large lake and mountains overwhelmed us. We also
shopped. I bought Indian moccasins, a small toy canoe and postcards.
I became fascinated with history and began to draw and paint. Nature had touched me forever.
What my parents taught
me was to make the best of our situation. If we didn't have a car like everyone else, so what. I had Central Park with
my Dad on weekends. My mother also made me realize that you need to thank God for whatever you have and make the best of it.
The times spent in nature were precious. Something to look forward to and to respect. It gave me a foundation from which to
build on. It inspired my love for art and travel. Nature became the source of my inspiration.
Years later I painted
landscapes of upstate New York and then traveled throughout Europe. I focused on Spain and bought an apartment on the Mediterranean
Sea. My artwork flourished and went from realistic to abstract work.
Today I am a professional artist, an adjunct
assistant professor of art at New York University and encourage my students to make the most of what they have. The childhood
memories and early experiences in nature will last a lifetime because they have made me what I am today. We all
need
God's country in our own way.
