As I sit in this modern restaurant overlooking my ole friend, The Potomac River, memories bring to me how much change we have seen since we sat here as children on the beach. We swam in the river; did our share of beach combing; fished with our Dad and brothers in the river; and, as teen-agers, watched the haul-seiners pulling in their long nets well into the night. We even helped them by putting insect repellent on their bare backs to help keep the mosquitoes away.

     Now fancy restaurants, yacht clubs, marinas and the like take much of our childhood scenes away along the banks of our Tidewater Region. We picked blackberries and huckleberries where a modern campground now stands. Our small community has grown so with the influx of “come-here’s” and their needs that we look to the changing seasons to grab every bit of nostalgia we can. In our mind, we try to re-live the “good ole days.” We grieve when men stomp down plants around our house measuring for the new sewer system. They do not even know the name of the plants they are jotting down and measuring. 

     We grieve that many of our watermen had to pick up paint brushes this winter instead of tongs due to the lack of oysters. During the summer, their budgets suffered due to the lack of crabs and yet their bills were still coming in. One day, while helping to teach at a local school, the teacher told me they were studying endangered species. I began to tell the students that our local watermen were becoming an endangered species and how hard it was for them to provide for their children. One local girl from a quite wealthy family said, “Well, they shouldn’t have children.” This was really a sting for a waterman’s daughter, but I tried to relate that children are important to all families.

     In November, the Presidential election brought a situation we had never faced before. How can we tell other nations how to govern when we don’t have a modern voting system? One pastor said he thought it was because God wanted us to remember each person is important; this is another millennium; and another century. It would mean good news to me if our Federal, State, and County government thought I was important since I have had to suffer so much persecution from them within the last few years, especially this past year. Let us hope it is a wake-up call and that our Ship of State will run on smoother water in the years ahead. 
Everyone should remember that Rome was a very rich Empire that destroyed itself from within because of rotten morals. We’d like to see the government stop trying to be watermen; farmers; teachers—and stop trying to make nature change its role, whether it is from spending five million dollars a year in Oregon to save the salmon they destroyed by running nature their way; or in our local rivers and bays by trying to please man rather than God.

     We took comfort in the changing of leaves; the entrance of winter; in being gathered with loved ones at Thanksgiving to express our thanks to a loving, patient God. We rejoiced in the joys of the Christmas Season which began two thousand years ago with God loving us so much that He gave us His Son. Family and friends brought much happiness to me in spite of my confinement.

     As we begin the New Year, 2001, may we make resolutions and keep them. As I look out across the River, my ole friend, it seems rough and cold now, but it still gives me strength, courage, and peace for we have traveled many miles together and we have shared many thoughts and memories. 

© 2001 Florence Jenkins Muse All rights