Last Thursday night, I strolled with my family
through the streets of my hometown—New Albany, Indiana—enjoying the annual
Harvest Homecoming Festival. It was a glorious fall evening with a slight chill
in the air necessitating a sweater or jacket. The theme for this 45th
festival is “Harvest Goes Hollywood.” We sampled homemade fudge, sipped hot
chocolate, greeted old friends and made some new ones. A concerted effort by a
number of groups to revitalize the downtown business district has been successful
and, as a result, charming, independently-owned restaurants and shops are now drawing
in younger families and the “hip” crowd to a once-dying economy. What an
exciting transformation! The aromas of roasted nuts and caramel corn mingled
with chicken and dumplings, corn dogs and pork sandwiches. Something for
everyone. The cafés
and art galleries opened their doors wide. Vendors in many booths sold
all manner of colorful and creative
wares, from T-shirts and trinkets to expensive jewelry and artwork.
Firefighters gave kids a tour of the engine and ambulance. Bands and
dancers performed live on the festival stage. All the while, Miss
Harvest
Homecoming moved among the crowd, wearing her tiara and sash. Groups of
teenagers congregated in front of
the music store, older folks observed from picnic tables, and young
couples
pushed strollers. As much as any other
time in my life, it impacted me tonight that this is Americana. This is what life’s about. Small town life at
its best with families enjoying a beloved hometown tradition together,
strengthening ties and the spirit of community.
As a senior in high school, I couldn’t wait to get away from New Albany, part of Kentuckiana where it sits
on the banks of the Ohio and often called the “sunny side of Louisville.” Let
me make it clear I was in no way ashamed of my hometown, but I inherited an independent
spirit from my mother and wanted to embrace and experience the world. Unlike
the majority of my counterparts, I wanted to live and work in a big city,
travel to Europe, see Broadway plays and meet all sorts of fabulous,
interesting people. When I packed up and moved to the Ball State University campus
as a freshman, I only returned home during summer breaks, holidays and
vacations for the next 28 years. Along the way, I married my husband, Jim, gave birth to our three children
(ages 16 to 23) and lived in Texas, California, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts
before coming back home in late 2005 with my family in-tow. Funny
how life comes full circle sometimes. I'm proof that you can come home again and yes, Dorothy, there truly is “no place like
home.” On my website, I make this statement: “I’ve ‘been around’ in the nicest sense of the word.” As a writer, living in different regions of the country has
given me a broader perspective of this great nation and its people, customs,
cultures, and geography. I wouldn't have traded those experiences for anything, and they've made me the person I am today.
When our son Matthew graduates from high school in two
years, I’ll be able to say all three of our kids have graduated from New Albany
High School—the oldest public high school in Indiana (1853) which served as a
hospital during the Civil War, and first in the nation to have an FM broadcast radio
station commissioned by the FCC. Notable alumni include Billy Herman (Hall of
Fame MLB player during the 1930s and 1940s), Sherman Minton (U.S. Senator and
associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court), Josh Dallas (actor, currently on
ABC’s popular “Once Upon a Time”), Fuzzy Zoeller (U.S. Open and Master’s
Champ—and part of my family), and Edwin
Hubble (astronomer for whom the Hubble Space Telescope is named) was a notable
faculty member.
My question to you:
“Where’s home in your heart?”
As New
Albany begins its Bicentennial celebration in 2013, I’m so proud to be a
“returnee” to my
sweet hometown, full of rich heritage and tradition. You see, the Lord
knew where I belonged all along. It just took me a while to see it, and
to find my way home again. But oh, I'm so glad I did. My prayer for you,
my
friends, is that you’ll be so abundantly blessed. Matthew 5:16
JoAnn
Durgin is the author of the popular Lewis Legacy Series, contemporary
romantic adventures full of faith, family and love (Torn Veil Books): Awakening, Second Time Around and Twin Hearts are available in both paperback and ebook from all major online Christian book retailers. Book #4 in the series, Daydreams, is coming in December 2012. Meet Me Under the Mistletoe,
a Christmas novella from Pelican Book Group (White Rose), is expected
to release in the next month. She'd love to hear from you at her
website, www.joanndurgin.com or on Facebook.
Ah, JoAnn. One of the most interesting realizations I made in my later adulthood is that I have no home town. There is a place I grew up and went to school, a place I raised my children, and a place we have come to retire, but if someone asked me where 'home' is, well, I would scratch me head. That seems sad for a while, until I began to realize that, as I aged, my home increasingly became heaven because only there could I find real rest and someone to, finally, care for me.
ReplyDeleteExactly, Mrs. P. That's where our "true" home lies in our heart--with our Heavenly Father. It wasn't until I'd moved around and had children that I even started to think about my earthly home (and should have probably made that more clear). Thanks so much for your insightful and lovely comments.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the interesting article.
ReplyDeleteIn a sense, I have two home towns. I lived in Fullerton, California for the first nine plus years of my life, when I moved to Arizona. While I lived in various places in Northern Arizona, the Verde Valley area was where I lived for all except three months between finishing sixth grade and going to college in Phoenix. I lived in Cottonwood, where the junior high and high school were, but the area goes from Jerome in Mingus Mountain north up the 89a (used to be U.S. Hwy, now, it's a state road) through Clarksdale and Cottonwood through West Sedona and Sedona itself before entering Oak Creek Canyon. It also includes some small communities, and Camp Verde which is on the other side of Interstate 17 (Camp Verde has its own school system). While I feel at home in California and was spoiled by going to Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm as a kid (I moved back there as a young adult where I met and married my wife), the beach doesn't have the hometown draw as the Red Rocks of Oak Creek Canyon.
Jeff