At Home in the Mountains

This morning I was speaking with an older lady from Eastern Kentucky, and she said something that hit home. She said she had been raised in the plains but that she always knew she belonged in the mountains, and then she shared a vivid recollection of the first time she ever saw the mountains - several decades ago.

I'm much the same way. I was born in Minnesota and grew up in Florida, but I remember my first trips through the Southern Appalachian Mountains on family vacations to Minnesota. The few hours in the mountains were my favorite part of every trip, and it seems I developed a longing for the mountains that wasn't satisfied until my family and I settled in North Georgia in 1996. Every region has its unique appeals, but mountain laurel, native brook trout, mountain dulcimers and tumbling creeks make a place feel like home to me.