One thing I like most about the River is that I can sit and see scenes of my childhood. Not a lot, for woodlands have turned into many homes and traffic is recreational, for the most part, instead of commercial. However, I can still see a seagull or osprey “dive for its dinner” or watch magical cloud formations. I can still smell the salt of the water and feel the sea breeze upon my face.

     All of us know that since September 11, 2001 life will never be the same, but long before that happened, those of us in our fifties, sixties, and seventies endured one shock after another one on what our society had become. That’s why we talk of “good ole days” or hang onto nostalgia like a lifeline. We attend Fall Festivals to touch base with those who feel the same throbs of the heart that we feel.

     Recently, I had such a moment. When I moved back to Coles Point, I gave my large trophy case, which I had used for my shell collection, to the Cople Alumni. Some of our faithful schoolmates were diligent in having it spruced up and brought to the new Cople Elementary School where it was placed in the front office. In the case were placed the trophies that Cople High School had won in sports from the twenties through the fifties. 

     Talk about nostalgia; I thought my heart would burst with remembering joy of yesteryear. We began thinking of the Saturday after Thanksgiving when, God willing, the Cople Alumni will again gather for their annual meeting and banquet, which they have done since the 1930’s. We praise God for giving us this honor in a day of such rapid change. So few of our “good ole days” have remained.

     Wouldn’t it be nice to have a telephone operator that knew you were human? My sister is now in a wheelchair and often alone. As I cooked her dinner at my home, I kept trying to get her on the phone but it was busy. Soon I began to suspect something was wrong and asked the operator to check the line for me. There was no conversation on the line so I jumped in the car to go check on her as my heart raced. She had accidentally pushed the “on” button on her portable. When my phone bill came I was shocked over how much they charged to do this humanitarian act. Remember when we had operators who were able to help us. 

     Yesterday I stopped at a Food Lion and a kind human got my few groceries, as I was too weak to do so. The quart of milk she brought me was in a new kind of bottle shaped like the ones of the “good ole days” except it was plastic instead of glass. I grinned all over as I thought of going across the road for fresh milk when I was a little girl. One day I was swinging two such glass milk bottles in my hands when one met the other and broke. There was a lot of explaining to do to my Mother back then but yesterday’s happening had brought many fond memories. 

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