Fitting the Pieces Together

Fitting the Pieces Together 120903

The Labor Day week-end is about over and people are loading their cars with suitcases full of dirty clothes and sand. It's kind of an odd feeling watching people leave Amelia Island. In a way it's like turning the pages of a book. The summer chapter ends and now comes the fall chapter. Summer was full of families and kids. Lots of wave jumping and beachcombers. I expect that fall will bring an older crowd and few kids. Already I can feel the days getting shorter even though the heat remains.

RS and I were talking about the week-end and the things we had seen: a Blue Moon, the turtle release, shopping, eating out, a beach 5K run, flag displays and more. It got me thinking about Fernandina Beach as a small town and how it all fits together.

You can drive around town and still see some of the signs for the most recent election. VOTE FOR ME! they shout. Yes, there is a government that provides services. I like to read the local paper and all the arguing and differences in view that take place. But, the government seems to function reasonably well. There are roads, schools, pretty low crime and the place is clean. Government is important and I am sure in this blog I will write more about it. But, government doesn't make it all happen or make the place what it is. At least not alone.

So what does make this place what it is?

You can see the Welcome to Fernandina Beach sign filled with the names of civic organizations. I am sure these groups add value to the place. Just about every small town I have seen in the USA has these same types of groups. It's kind of a combination of organizations that serve a special interest combined with some level of do-gooderism.

But civic organizations are not enough to make the place what it is.

Since I have been looking on Google about Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach, I have been discovering little things. Maybe it is no surprise that there are groups of people dedicated to turtles or pool playing or former military service or a zillon other things. These groups provide a means for people with a special interest to share what they like or do.

Maybe it is also no surprise that there are individuals who seem to have something inside them driving them to focus at least part of their lives on one thing, for example, Rita Jackson and horses or Leo McCormack and archeology or David Bert Austin and beekeeping. I'm starting to feel that I may become focused too just by writing this blog.

But, all this alone doesn't make Fernandina Beach unique and so interesting. I suppose the geography, the history, the businesses and industry, the religious organizations add a part to it.

Maybe it's the character of the people. There is an unusual mix of rural southerners, rich people, African Americans, manufacturing workers, tourists, retirees, foreigners and other ways to classify people. Somehow they all come together or at least live here side-by-side.

I don't know. Maybe I should defer this question and just keep writing about what I see and feel and how it all fits together will somehow coalesce into a clear vision.

-CR
Photos by RS