Where is home?
Posted 12-31-2007 at 09:28 PM by NoHall
I wasn't planning to be here right now. For that matter, I stopped making plans ten years ago, because my plans never really pan out, and the things that pan out instead are always so much better than what I would have planned, anyway.
New Year's Eve is a horrible holiday for someone like me. That's a blog in itself, but I'm not gonna get into detail about it right now. For the last several years, I've gone out of town to family or friend's houses. This year I was simply too busy to put much thought into it.
Fortunately, I kept getting messages from a SoWal friend asking if I was going to come down. Barely a week ago, I made plans to be here.
I can't remember when I've ever felt so certain that I was in the absolute right place. I can't even begin to keep up with the party pace of this crowd, but I still know I'm supposed to be here. Today I was driving from Santa Rosa to Watersound thinking about my history with SoWal.
When I was in college, my favorite professor came to Destin with her husband about once a month. From her stories, I felt like I knew and loved Walton County already. It wasn't until a few years after college that I started coming. For 10 years, I came to Gulf Trace with a large group of people who worked with me in Young Life. I spent 5 days every Memorial Day weekend with a stack of novels and my toes in the sand. I'm hardly an introvert, but all weekend I had people asking me if I was okay--for those 5 days, I read and walked and spent one-on-one time with some friends. I biked up and down 30-A, watching the bike path evolve and the houses go up. My darling better-than-a-brother and his sweet wife moved here about 5 years ago, and I had even more reason to love this place.
This weekend has been like a second honeymoon with my home away from home. I'm at a different location on 30-A, and my life has just changed for the umpty-millionth time. (When I first started coming here, I was living in Buckhead, for heaven's sake. I've moved three times since then, changed jobs--changed careers!--started a business...my head reels thinking about it!) Twelve years ago when I started coming, I brought a few dozen friends with me from Georgia. Now I have a few dozen here who take me out to eat, out running, out biking, to the theater, to their homes...
I have a wonderful home, family, and friends--a wonderful life--in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. But today I realized that even though I don't own property in Walton County, Florida, I have a wonderful home and life here, too.
Thanks for being part of my family. Every time I'm here, I'm in the arms of old friends I've just met. I can't help but think that's a part of heaven--meeting people for the very first time and knowing you've loved them all your life.
"Seymour once said that all we do our whole lives is go from one little piece of Holy Ground to the next. Is he never wrong?" --J.D. Salinger
New Year's Eve is a horrible holiday for someone like me. That's a blog in itself, but I'm not gonna get into detail about it right now. For the last several years, I've gone out of town to family or friend's houses. This year I was simply too busy to put much thought into it.
Fortunately, I kept getting messages from a SoWal friend asking if I was going to come down. Barely a week ago, I made plans to be here.
I can't remember when I've ever felt so certain that I was in the absolute right place. I can't even begin to keep up with the party pace of this crowd, but I still know I'm supposed to be here. Today I was driving from Santa Rosa to Watersound thinking about my history with SoWal.
When I was in college, my favorite professor came to Destin with her husband about once a month. From her stories, I felt like I knew and loved Walton County already. It wasn't until a few years after college that I started coming. For 10 years, I came to Gulf Trace with a large group of people who worked with me in Young Life. I spent 5 days every Memorial Day weekend with a stack of novels and my toes in the sand. I'm hardly an introvert, but all weekend I had people asking me if I was okay--for those 5 days, I read and walked and spent one-on-one time with some friends. I biked up and down 30-A, watching the bike path evolve and the houses go up. My darling better-than-a-brother and his sweet wife moved here about 5 years ago, and I had even more reason to love this place.
This weekend has been like a second honeymoon with my home away from home. I'm at a different location on 30-A, and my life has just changed for the umpty-millionth time. (When I first started coming here, I was living in Buckhead, for heaven's sake. I've moved three times since then, changed jobs--changed careers!--started a business...my head reels thinking about it!) Twelve years ago when I started coming, I brought a few dozen friends with me from Georgia. Now I have a few dozen here who take me out to eat, out running, out biking, to the theater, to their homes...
I have a wonderful home, family, and friends--a wonderful life--in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. But today I realized that even though I don't own property in Walton County, Florida, I have a wonderful home and life here, too.
Thanks for being part of my family. Every time I'm here, I'm in the arms of old friends I've just met. I can't help but think that's a part of heaven--meeting people for the very first time and knowing you've loved them all your life.
"Seymour once said that all we do our whole lives is go from one little piece of Holy Ground to the next. Is he never wrong?" --J.D. Salinger
Total Comments 7
Comments
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That was very well put.
Even though I just met and only spoke with you VERY briefly this time around, I hope to be a part of your next SoWal visit. Perhaps you can come down for the Seaside Rep's production of Blithe Spirit. Since you were a big supporter through that whole jumble, I'd love to have you there. 
Posted 01-01-2008 at 10:08 PM by Kase626
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I would love to have me at BLITHE SPIRIT, too! I hope the timing works out. Glad to meet you, too!Posted 01-01-2008 at 10:43 PM by NoHall
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You are so cool!Posted 01-02-2008 at 08:38 AM by kurt
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I'm so glad you made it my friend.
Posted 01-03-2008 at 07:03 PM by Beachbummett
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So, you're going to move permanently into your current housing??
Ditch the military school and run the bar at the artist's colony...Posted 01-04-2008 at 10:34 PM by John R
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oh you nuthall!
you just made me tear up. thanks for sharing your thoughts and life with us all. just remember this: you were born to be a sowal wench!Posted 01-05-2008 at 03:57 PM by Tootsie
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Artist's colony? Are they nude?
I lub you wenches...Posted 01-11-2008 at 03:16 PM by NoHall
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