Spring Break Memories
Beautiful buttercups are in bloom, and the cold temperatures have crept away for now. Hopefully, Spring is right around the corner. Spring Break begins next week and Daylight Savings time begins Sunday, March 10.
Spring Break brings back childhood memories. The excitement of knowing you get a week off from school. All I could think about was fishing, hiking along the Tennessee River, or hiking up in the woods where I grew up. My sister, Mary Ellen, and our two dogs, Chris and Higgins, would travel up and down the Tennessee River looking for treasures. We would find some of the prettiest driftwood. We also found arrowheads and fossils; if we were lucky, we would find a shiny fishing lure, but one thing is sure: we always saw a snake. Sometimes it was just a water snake, but other times, we would run across a cottonmouth or a copperhead sunning on the riverside rocks. I remember a cottonmouth trying to strike and seeing the white of his mouth and fangs. Scary. Living on the river, we were taught to be careful and remember that there will be snakes when we walk along the waterway or in the woods. There is no telling how many snakes we walked over and never even noticed them.
If we were not hiking, we were fishing. We would find a place to dig up worms, and pick up a rod and reel (that worked), but the ole reliable cane poles were always available, that were hidden in the corner of the shed. It would take some time to find good-size night crawlers. We would find a good bit of nightcrawlers close to the slough, where there was a lot of wet leaves and soft ground. We found enough to fill the ole tin can we used. Oh, the feeling when you have a fish nibbling your bait and knowing the right time to snag the hook to catch the `Big One.' It was so much fun.
We would catch brim, catfish, and perch, and one time, I caught a longnose gar. My sister and I screamed when I pulled it out of the river. It was the first time I caught a fish with small, sharp teeth. Most people didn't eat the fish out of the river because Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant was just a piece up the river, but catching them was some of the best times growing up.
Spring break changed as my sister and I got older. When we were teenagers, we planned to be with friends. Hopefully, they would have a boat and waterskis. If we were not waterskiing, we were on the pier, tanning. We loved waterskiing, and the only way we could get that nice bronze tan before prom was to stay out on the river for a day or two or lay out on the pier with the boom box and our bottle of baby oil or Coppertone tanning lotion. Things have changed since my teenage years.
When my daughter, Emily, had spring break, we would make plans to spend some time at Pensacola Beach. Many people take their families down for a week on the Gulf. So, if traveling be safe when traveling, and enjoy any time you get to spend with family.
Remember to set your clocks forward one hour before bedtime on Saturday, March 9.