Last week while clicking channels I came across Aunt Bea. She was making strawberry jam for the Fair in town. She desperately wanted the Blue Ribbon.

They were all in the kitchen cheering her on: Opie, the Sheriff, Barney, the mayor – all of them.

I paused the TV and started the episode from the beginning.

Yes, I was searching for Mayberry.

I suppose all of Meridian, indeed, all of America, could use a good dose of Mayberry.

Oh, I know Mayberry is a fictional town, but couldn’t someone build a real one for us? We are so desperate for the sweetness of a place where there is only one traffic light and very little crime.

Well, there is occasionally a moonshiner, back in the woods, but no one faults the feller for trying to make a living and a little shine as well.

And on Saturday nights, Sheriff Andy and Deputy Barney escort girlfriends, Helen and Thelma Lou, to the Grand Movie Theatre to enjoy the latest flick. Also they stop afterwards at Ward’s Drug Store for ice cream because all is quiet in Mayberry and law enforcement can enjoy a night off duty. No cares, no worries, just good fun for the foursome.

Oh Mayberry, where are you?

And over at Wally’s Filling Station, where cousins Gomer and Goober Pyle, not only offer full service (wash the windows, pump the gas, gauge the tires, etc) and all repair and automotive needs for Mayberry citizens, but the two offer as well a kind ear and encouraging words. And, man, can they dance!

I must mention Aunt Bea again. You see she is more than meets the eye. Why she prepares lunch each day for the inmates, two cells located in the sheriff’s office.

Not only that, she takes care of the Sheriff and his boy. She cooks, cleans, shops and with a real will makes certain all is well in the Taylor household. Aunt Bea sings high soprano in the community choir and as well has her hair done on Friday morning at Fleur De Lis Beauty Salon located down the street from the Mayberry Courthouse.

In Mayberry, everyone walks everywhere. Floyd’s Barbershop is located next to Mayberry Hotel which is across the street from Crowley’s Market, where Aunt Bea will complete her weekly grocery shopping directly after the beauty salon appointment on Friday morning.

I do love all of the characters. You know, it is really hard for me to realize that they are not real because Aunt Bea is so like by Granny Brooks and my mother had her hair done each Friday morning then she went directly to the A & P to grocery shop. Sigh.

I suppose my favorites in Mayberry are Clarabelle and Jennifer Morrison, sisters who ran the local flower shop and had a moonshine still on the side. They were not featured as often as I would have liked. But I remember their innocent faces and shrill giggles. They were charming.

And perhaps there was a time when Meridian could have been compared to Mayberry. Oh, let us pray those times return. Have we traveled too far from Mayberry to ever recover? I hope not. I pray not.

So let us all meet at the Bluebird Diner, located near Myer’s Lake, and make a vow.

We shall return to those sweet times and not tolerate the current murder and violence so instilled in our town today. We can do it, but we must work together.

Anne McKee is a proud, native Meridianite and Mississippi historian. She is the author of “Remembering Mississippi” and “Historic Photos of Mississippi.” Anne is known as a Mississippi Storyteller and as well the Director of Rose Hill Cemetery Costumed Tour. See her website: www.annemckeestoryteller.com