Row, Row, Row Your Boat

I have been in Annapolis no less than 3,905,435 times this month due to various photography engagements. My poor car hates me: the gas tank, the clutch,...the odometer. Even my seats are beginning to protest my frequent trips up Old Solomons Island Road and back.

Nonetheless, I love every trip up there. My head is just flooded with memories every time I drive down Bestgate Road or West Street, or cross over the Naval Academy Bridge at sunset. I always roll down my windows and sunroof as if to somehow be closer to the city which I love so much.

Annapolis has its own culture. If you've never spent time there, then it would be hard for you to imagine. But every Annapolitan knows exactly what I'm talking about. There's something about the "Raccoon Eye" Syndrome one gets from constant wear of sunglasses...most of the time attached around the neck with a thin tube of neoprene. The smell of brand new, leather Sperry's and the business men who stroll along the old brick sidewalks in khaki pants and a navy blue blazer with shiny bass buttons. The glorious vision of Midshipmen in their Summer Whites, and the hippies who sit on City Dock with their guitars, singing about their woes and the water. The crowd at Pussers can always be heard from any point in downtown, and you can almost count on waiting in line for a double-dip from Storm Brothers.

As the salty Severn River air flows freely throughout my car, I (trying not to close my eyes while in the car) think back to my high school days where I spent so many winding around the streets of Annapolis, without a care in the world. I thank God for that time in my life, because it was then that I discovered who I really was and what type of person I wanted to be. My faith was shaped and nurtured at my High School with the help of loving teachers and supportive friends...every day we were in the Word and in fellowship with each other. While so many of them have gone their own ways as life has led them, I think everyone who comes back to visit still calls this place "home."

Driving over the Naval Academy Bridge on my frequent trips home from Annapolis, it's usually at sunset. I can't help but think that the silhouette of the Capital Building in the distance and everything that Annapolis implies for me is just a little glimpse of Heaven. And, although I'm always headed to my physical home in Southern Maryland with my husband whom I love and our soon-to-be new home, I always seem to hear a faint whisper in my head saying, "Someday, I'll bring you Home."

Although I've never owned a pair of Sperry Topsiders, and have almost never had a "Racoon Eyes" tan on my face, I have heard the empty poles of sail boats clang together in harmonious symphony, and I've heard the call of a sailboat captain yell "Jive Ho" as the sails switch in the wind. I heard it on Saturday, while standing at the very edge of the U.S. Naval Academy with my beloved camera and was able to catch some of the passing sailboats in memory of the town which I love so much.