Give something of yourself to your mom

Mary Hunt writes about money matters. Her nationally syndicated column before Mother’s Day combined money matter with what really matters. Florists, she told her readers, will make a good third of their annual income on Mother’s Day. Restaurants do very well indeed. It is a huge helping for them. Oh yes, it is a big spending holiday.

But Hunt had a radical idea – forget the flowers, pass on dinner. Instead do something personal on Mother’s Day. Write a letter, Make a cake or a card from scratch. In other words, give a piece of yourself back to your Mom. She’ll love you for it.

I thought Hunt was onto something.

And so it came to pass that I looked up the times for masses at a nearby Catholic church. Going to mass would make my mom happy. She believed in church on Sunday and fish on Fridays. She blessed herself with holy water every time she went inside a church and her rosary beads where worn from use. The blessed virgin was her favorite and she prayed to her a lot. Mom was righteous about regular confession and giving up anything you really liked for Lent. That last one never really appealed to me.

Mom wouldn’t think of stepping inside church doors without a hat or veil, gloves on both hands and her shoes polished. Stockings would have perfectly straight lines up the back and of course she wore Sunday best clothes.

Her plans for me as I was growing up included finding a good Catholic boy. She looked for favorable candidates and made suggestions. Sometimes she even invited them to dinner. It drove me nuts.

In her mind there was a natural progression from finding the right one, getting me married and having grandchildren. In my mind there was no reason to hurry things. There was a world to see and explore.

Mom did not live to complete her mission. She died three days after Christmas the year I was a senior in college. I graduated, married that catholic boy and had three children. They’ve grown up now and have children of their own.

Although I don’t go to a Catholic church any more, mass seemed like the perfect way to honor my mother. It would certainly make her happy to know I was inside a catholic church. On Mother’s Day I showed up ten minutes before a 10 a.m. service. Pulling into the parking lot, it didn’t take a genius to figure out something didn’t compute. There were five cars in the parking lot. It turns out that mass is at 11 a.m. someone forgot to upgrade the church Web site.

Wandering through the big double doors I saw lovely stained glass windows. Off to one side I found a sweet statue of the Blessed Virgin and a number of candles at her feet. Lighting a candle for my mom, I sat down nearby and told her all about the grandchildren and granddaughter she never met. They would have loved her. And I told her I missed her still.

I thanked her for the many times she was my best friend as well as my mom and asked forgiveness for those times when I didn’t take her advice to heart, especially in my teenage years. Let’s just say I was a trying child who had her own ideas about future flight plans and that’s putting it mildly.

Getting ready to leave, I saw a boy about 12 years old going towards the lectern. His mom stood in the aisle. In a sure, firm voice he said his name and that he was the lector for today. Ah, practicing for the 11 a.m. service. I stood still and listened. His mom nodded her approval, encouraging him with her full attention and smiles.

It was déjà vu.

The torch of unconditional love passes from hand to hand. Another generation is growing up, testing its wings and trying out new things. Mom is right there, encouraging, loving and helping the fledgling fledge.

Happy Mother’s Day, mom. I’ll try to make it to mass on time next year. Honest.

Lucy Beebe Tobias is a freelance writer, photographer and artist in Ocala, Florida. ©2007 Lucy Beebe Tobias

Flowing into the future

HIGH SPRINGS – Fiddles finesse. Banjos bedazzle. Together they rush the country tune forward like a barrel tumbling in a fast current towards a waterfall. Happy dancers, laughing and smiling, twirl around the floor. Feet stomp on the old wood floor. A caller calls the circles and squares. All this energy seeps through the log walls of the Recreation Hall then out into the twilight along the banks of the Santa Fe River.

For a few hours it is as though the old town of Leno comes alive for a community happening only now the tiny town, long vanished since the early 1900s, is part of a state park. O’Leno State Park has been around since the 1930s The musicians and dancers are visitors for a special event. They don’t live on the grounds but come for a short and exhilarating visit.

A town, perhaps first called Keno after a game of chance then later Leno started here in the 1860s. It was the end of the line for the first telegraph set up in Florida to connect with the outside world. That was a small claim to fame. Leno stayed tiny, becoming a small lumber town with a mill on the Santa Fe River. When a railroad bypassed the town, its days were numbered. By 1900 only an old road and the milldams remained.

The area took on new life as a state park. One of the first state parks acquired in the 1930s, the purchase became a project for the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Authority (WPA). Log cabins were built along with a dining hall, meeting building and pavilion. Everything they built still stands today, a tribute to their craftsmanship.

Generations of Alachua and nearby county residents have stayed in the cabins or camping areas as part of youth and group outings. Choices include family, primitive, youth and group camping. Over the years, it has become so legendary among youth groups that stays at O’Leno cabins or in the camping areas are embedded as part of the ritual of growing up in North Central Florida.

For both campers and visitors, rangers give Junior Ranger programs on Saturday afternoons and something called Rangers Choice on Saturday evenings. Call (386) 454-1853 to find out times, places and programs.

The most famous landmark built by the CCC sways securely over the Santa Fe River. The suspension bridge they built is wide enough for two people. It is a Florida Historic Civil Engineering Landmark and pretty amazing. Be assured those engineers knew what they were doing. This bridge is built to last and while it sways underfoot as you cross over the river, the passage is a safe one.

Low water levels have dropped the Santa Fe River to a series of almost stagnant pools. That is why no swimming or boating is currently allowed. But you can still try your luck at fishing although the low water makes for poor catches of catfish, bass or bream. Then again, every fisherman or woman knows that fishing is unpredictable. Sometimes the best part is just being outdoors.

A Florida freshwater fishing license is required for anyone between the ages of 16 and 65.
On the day we visited, the water was clear and shallow. You could see small and large gar with their long slim needle-shaped bodies hanging motionless just below the surface. Several turtles lazed on the water’s surface soaking up sun.

Water levels haven’t always been this low. On a suspension pole at the beginning of the bridge is a water gauge showing heights up to54.30 inches.

Walking along the River Trail, follow it to the spot where the Santa Fe River disappears underground. It doesn’t reappear again for more than three miles down the road. You’ll find it as a circular pool at River Rise Preserve State Park adjacent to O’Leno. Between the park and the preserve combined there are 6000 acres of state parks located in both Alachua and Bradford counties.

O’Leno also has a short walk called the Limestone Trail that takes you through a hardwood hammock, past limestone outcroppings and you walk in a pine forest. Miles of paved roads and off-road provide bikers with a good ride.

Whether walking, biking, camping, fishing or just watching the fish, O’Leno State Park has a past that keeps on flowing into the future.

IF YOU GO
What: O’Leno State Park
Where: 410 S.E. Oleno Park Road, High Springs, Fl 32643
Getting there: Located six miles north of High Springs on U.S. 441
Phone: (386) 454-1853
Web site: www.floridastateparks.org
Hours: 8 a.m. to sundown every day of the year
Cost: $4 per vehicle up to eight passengers
What to do: Hike, bike, picnic, camp, cabins, canoe
Upcoming events: Old Time Dance, Recreation Hall, Sunday, May 13 from 4 to 7 p.m., Flying Turtles String Band. Dance tickets $5 adults, $3 children (plus park admission)

Reprinted from The Observer.
Lucy Beebe Tobias is a freelance writer, photographer and artist in Ocala. Her book “50 Great Walks in Florida” from University Press of Florida will be in bookstores February 2008.