I tried looking up "El Cordova" in the Spanish to English dictionary to find out the meaning of this word, but I kept getting the "I'm sorry, I really have no idea what you are trying to find here...are you SURE you spelled it right?" message. But to my eight-year old brain, "El Cordova" will eternally mean unfettered freedom from adult supervision during the most idyllic time of my childhood. For a brief span of time, my family lived in this hacienda-style hotel on Coronado Island, and yes...my siblings and I roamed freely as we explored the beaches and the famous Hotel Del Hotel. We made fast friends with the sweet old lady who owned the small little gift shop inside the courtyard of the El Cordova and she always gave us candy. (I truly hope my little brothers never "purchased" their candy using the five finger discount...). It was here in this very swimming pool that my brother Tom, "the FISH," taught himself how to swim by hanging on to the edge with one hand while paddling around with his other. On one particurly hot Sunday, my dad wouldn't let us go swimming to cool off, so we "swam" in the bathtub. I remember ripping open my leg on a fence by the beach and still have the scars to show for it. We collected sand dollars and star fish and brought them home to dry them out. I was introduced for the first time to fascinating t.v. shows such as Popeye the Sailor Man, Get Smart, I Love Lucy, Mr. Ed and The Monkees. I recently visited this hotel and ate lunch at a restaurant that is in the courtyard and shared with my daughters my girlhood memories of living at this place. It dawned on me in amazement that my parents let me and my little brothers run around so freely with out constantly hovering over us. I am even more amazed to think that while my parents and the younger kids of the family lived in one apartment, they allowed my teen-age siblings to live in a totally different hotel room clear across the courtyard from where we were. When I mentioned all this to my parents, they just smiled and said, "times were different then." It's sad that we can't let our children have that kind of freedom.
