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Perdido River gets its name from Native American's and the word itself translates to 'lost'.
It is very easy to get lost if traveling the twisted bends and joining pond like pockets.
I was fortunate enough to live on that river for 25 years of my life.
My father owned a small boat which I would borrow when I needed to escape to a more
peaceful state of mind. One section of the river from my backyard led to a thin trail-way
which could only be crossed by oaring your boat. Moss laden trees, swamp grass and
lily pads pack together beneath a blue sky. This is reflected back and forth from slow
rippling water back up and all around the traveler. I called this one area the 'Amazons'
because it was a miniature mental image of how I imagined that great river to be. It was
untamed and quietly waiting for anyone to join on its lazy path.
You can only hear your oar in the movement gliding yourself along, cicada and other voices from natures family. Sticking the oar deep into the mud lets off a powerful primeval algae like smell which is not really bad if you associate it to the mystery of life's beginning.
I attempted one time to get lost while going upstream in and out of numerous pocket type ponds. When I believed I had gone far enough and achieved my goal I crossed to the opposite side of an island to head home. I noted the river had a certain direction and surmised it should be flowing back to the ocean. This should be the correct way to follow back on a separate route back to my home. It also made it easier to travel as the boat floated slowly but steadily with the current. I believed I would eventually see familiar surroundings if I just stuck to this natural flow while keeping the boat from landing or finding underwater stumps (from trees near the shore that had fallen in storms).
There is a peaceful feeling in being lost when you trust your inner guide and let it take over so to speak. This was a long trip but so calming that I would continue to return to it many times. I even visit it still in my dreams, waking with the same peace and contentment as I'd felt all those years ago.
The water then was clearer than today. The land seemed to be richer in greenery in my recollection. I was blessed to see deer, otters, beavers, alligators from a safe distance, osprey, cranes, blonde puma, bobcats, families of raccoons and all sorts of beautiful wildlife.
My family and our home survived through several major hurricanes with no damage to its structure. I have seen a waterspout jump the shore, fly over our home and hit a neighbors house across the street. We have been stranded without electricity, only well water which my father treated after storm contamination and no outside connection to society for 2 weeks at the most. This improved once the road was paved and governing officials realized we did not have water without electricity. Our region is still missing from most maps in spite of technology. I suppose the Native Americans who first named the river knew
(once again) what they were talking about.
For years I had a strong mental vision of a tall proud Native American, standing at the rivers edge behind our property. When we moved from there it seemed that he'd left for it has change drastically over the years. I suppose everything does and that-that is the natural order of things. The water is no longer clear and fishing is no longer allowed. Our city and its corporations are currently engineering a waste system which begins at the factory level then joins into suburbia waste which ends up on the wetlands I once called home. The land is governmental owned and now private. Warnings of camera's and against trespassing dot the once free roadside in ominous silence. Promises of safety, environmentally sound procedures drip like honey from the typed information hiding actual faces behind the machine of advancement.
Surprisingly I am not saddened by all of this, but more disappointed as a mother with a mischievous child would be. I am also sorry. Sorry for those with authority and one sided visions of the future.
I am hopeful for the energy of youth. The next generation whose fault does not lie in any of it, will find ways to mop up behind our government of today like wiping a toddlers dirty bottom. Till then all that I feel I am able to do is to ride the current flow to its outcome, where ever and when ever that will be. I will try to help educate, fight to my own ability and pray for more natural answers so that we may cohabit this home in a better way.
