“The place doesn’t care if you love it. But for your sake you had better love it. For the sake of all else you love, you had better love it.”
I read the above quote a few years back in a novel, Hannah Coulter, by Wendell Berry. I even referred to it in a blog post upon moving to my present home.
Things were different then. In so many ways. Yet it seems appropriate to revisit Hannah’s words. My daughter reminded as of last week, we’ve lived here, in this place, four years now.
Sometimes it’s not easy to love a place. Sometimes it’s easier to wish I was somewhere far away. Today, for instance. The temperature did not get above thirty degrees. Snow is frozen on the ground. I thought of San Diego. A place I once lived. Days when my friends and I would visit the beach on a school day afternoon. A place not so hard to love. Especially in February. But that’s not my place, presently.
My place, my home, is warm. People visit and seem to feel welcome. Place is a battle for me though. I believe, truly believe, I’m where I’m supposed to be. Yet it’s not necessarily where I’d choose, at least not everyday. Oh, I love my home. What it represents and the people who share it with me. I love my neighborhood, despite its shortcomings. I love my eclectic neighbors. I look forward to meeting whoever just purchased the long for sale “castle house” next door.
I believe you have to forge a place for yourself, so to speak. Create and make it your own. I realize more and more I am a pioneer. Which is strange to write because Lexington, Kentucky, is an old locale, in the grand scope of the USA. Lots of historic happenings trace back to the 1700s. Yet, being a pioneer is in my history, my family. We are part of the people who moved west. Then further west. Some forced and some by choice. So I consider myself a pioneer who did the opposite….moved east. And now as I face the near future alone in my {place}, I have to make it my own in order to emotionally survive. Or else find another place in which to dwell.
I choose to celebrate the four year anniversary. I choose to be hospitable because in hospitality I thrive. My home doesn’t care, as it’s simply a building. But for my sake, and the sake of those I love, I choose to love my home.
Upon a Sunny Day 