So my parents tell me that they were having lunch in Calistoga and my father was wearing last years Worth A Dam t-shirt when a woman stopped him and said, “Hey, I have one just like that!” They chatted for a while and my dad reminded her not to miss the festival this year (although he couldn’t remember the date). “Never mind,” she assured him. “I’ll look it up on the website”.  Unable to resist the parent impulse he explained he was “Heidi’s father” and the woman nodded politely and asked, “Who’s Heidi?”

Ahhhh this is a lovely and affirming story on so many levels. It shows how beaver people can recognize each other, even in far away places. It shows how the website exists in the minds of people who might not regularly check it, but know it’s there if they ever have a question. Best of all it shows how the beavers’ safety does not rest on the shoulders of a single person or even a single organization, but rather on the backs of the many who carry their story with them. 

zeitgeist