Tales from River’s End – Passport to Adventure

by Janice R. Edwards

Greetings from River’s End.  Looking out the patio door, today is gray, windy and cold suggesting the coming winter. Some people don’t like the cold, wet grayness of winter down here – they say there’s nothing to do. I don’t agree. The river is forever a giving, living thing – if you look beyond the obvious and suspend your thoughts of the mundane for just a little while, the river starts seeping into your thoughts. When it does, it polishes out the negative things in your life and leaves you with this indescribable love.

I’ll try to explain what I mean. If you have been following the news stories about the San Bernard River lately, you know it has been on a war horse – a lot of high water taking off a lot of people’s personal items and generally messing with their property. Some people get depressed about the river when it is like this. I have to admit, it even started to disappoint me, but then I got to thinking – and that can be dangerous. One of my favorite river songs, River in the Rain, was written by Roger Miller. My favorite part of this song is the following lyrics:

            “But sometimes in a time of trouble,

             When you’re out of hand and your muddy bubbles

 Roll across my floor –

Carrying away my treasures –

Hell, they ain’t no measure

Why I love you more

Than I did the day before.”

Roy and I had water under our house for 5 days this past week before the river decided it had out lived its welcome in our yard and under our house. And just when I almost felt despair, people started calling to check up on us. People on the river. People from Houston, Nome – all over. And all this while we and all the Friends Of the River San Bernard were getting ready for our first fund raiser. This started to give me heart. But that wasn’t all. The river had to get in on the act. There, directly across the river, taking up the whole sky at sunset was a double rainbow.

OK – now I know you all are going to think I am crazy now, but I knew then it was going to be fine. In Sunday school, growing up, one favorite idea I took to heart came at the end of the Noah and the Ark story. It tells how God gave the world the rainbow as his promise that he would not destroy the world by flood again. Right there, covering Redfish, McNeil’s Bayou, Pelican Lake, Jones Lake and all the water between our place and Freeport was my sign, the double rainbow. I took that as a promise to the people of the river and to the river itself… kind of like our sign that our world would not be destroyed by flood. Before the sign, Roy and I  were concerned because the mouth of the river has been closed since Hurricane Rita came to visit last year. We also never had water under our house for so long before – not even in a tropical rain event.

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 Double Rainbow on the San Bernard

 But I started thinking again – here it is the end of another Hurricane Season – and we have past the point (in Texas) when the latest storm (historically) has hit the Texas Coast line. We, who live on the Texas Coast, have all been blessed by a relatively quiet season. If you think about it, we’ve been given the chance to help the river regain its integrity and connection with the Gulf. And the San Bernard, bolstered by the flood waters, reached out with watery fingers trying to find the Gulf. Some of our neighbors, who braved the floating battle rams also known as logs, report that there is some limited flow out of what was the last mouth before Rita. Roy and I haven’t seen it yet – and the cold, wet gray stopped that idea for today.

But I’ve been impressed because more hopeful things for the river happened this weekend, too – maybe another sign of other good things to come. F.O.R. had our first fund raiser. What with the last day of the fair and the other fall festivals going on this past weekend - and people cleaning up after high water, those of us helping make the fund raiser happen were beginning to lose heart. But, here again, the river and its people stepped up.  Volunteers who were supposed to set up the gymnasium showed up and got it ready. Between rented tables and chairs and borrowed tables and chairs (thanks Pete and Sue Smirch and River’s End Volunteer Fire Dept.) we filled the hall.

The Auction items came in and were marked, the auction team assembled. The food team assembled and prepared and served really good roast beef, mashed potatoes, beans, salad and dessert until it was gone – at 5:30 p.m. The Merchandising team set up F.O.R. logo merchandise. The Raffle team was assembled. Everyone was in place, and then our neighbors showed up in droves – with their check books and their hearts in their hands.

I don’t know how many people came – Roy thinks, coming and going, there were around 400 people. I do know, though, that they came to support the river. As I sat in the back of the room, trying to get a bid in edgewise, I realized how amazing this assembly was. This was a community – a real community. These were true neighbors. There were members of every political party there. There were rich people, working people, families, single people, young people, and older ones. A year ago, I would not have known 2 people in the room , but I realized that I knew most of them. Everyone there gave what they could. I was truly proud to be there. I can’t explain it, but the love of the river has drawn this community together.