Alan NeSmith
As the tips of our Hosta plants break through the rich red clay of Northeast Georgia and see their first sunlight of a new year, I know Spring has already sprung on the river I cherish most that’s 256.7 miles southeast of our front yard flower bed.
It’s a place one can escape into the wilderness we have left, drifting in the rich current of water that began its trip to the Atlantic Ocean from as far ways as East Point and Athens, Georgia. Yes, floating in the grand circulation of water of our home state is a great way to recharge the deepest depths of your soul.
Nineteen years ago, on the Saturday of Mother’s Day weekend, I first climbed aboard my then new john boat for the first time. At a little over 15 1/2 feet in total length, from the V-shaped transom seat to the bow is an open deck. Under the shade of a magnolia, I daydreamed of little boys and the fish that would be pulled over her gunwales. Then I was brought back to reality, by the realization the first step was to find a wife.
Three years later Heather said, “I do” on the beach of Little Cumberland Island. And then, over the next three years, God blessed us with William and Fenn. Add another two years and my daydream of 2004 became a reality.
Pushing off the bank of the Altamaha River, I proudly wore a tear-soaked smile as I made my way from the bow to the stern while admiring two young fishermen scooting around on the deck in their tiny red life jackets.
Fast forward a decade, and you’ll find a 14-year-old sitting to my left and a 12-year-old perched just behind the deck of the bow. Last Saturday morning, as we pushed off the bank of the Altamaha River and drifted downstream, the sun was still below the Cypress and Tupelo trees. Making our way through the flooded swamp, banter inside the john boat consisted of which bush hook would catch from the 23 we set at dusk the night before.
Here in Habersham County we are blessed to have the Soque and Chattahoochee Rivers flowing through. As Spring fully arrives in our community, I encourage you to make your way to the riverbank, watch the current drift by or slip a boat in the water.
Then soak up some sun, listen to nature and feel the pressures of the world slip off your shoulders.
Alan NeSmith is chairman of Community Newspapers Inc. Reach him at 706-778-4215 or anesmith@TheNortheastGeorgian.com.