Cumming, Georgia : Listening for a Sense of Place

Practicing family therapy in the suburbs of Atlanta, a place where folks pass through on the way to corporate fortunes elsewhere, years ago I began asking “Where is home for you ?”  I made note of answers both universally shared and uniquely experienced, and was impressed with how seldom their psychological home was defined by a particular town or state.  The most frequent responses described  meaningful and strong attachments – sometimes to persons, sometimes to things. They remembered knowing others and being known, landmarks such as a favorite tree, a well tended garden left behind, a pond or stream where they played growing up, and beloved pets who marked whole periods of their lives.  One young mom in a detailed word picture spoke of a look-out where surrounding houses and fields nourished her imagined and hoped for future now far from her current life.   Not surprisingly, after several moves, some to whom I spoke no longer tried to establish themselves again. Instead, they held onto ties from their past in places they still called Home.

After some early moves myself, I settled into the woods of North Georgia. I live beside an old deserted and deeply rutted country road that now disappears under the waters of Lake Lanier north of Atlanta. A person of past Places and now of a present and lasting Home-Place, I am lucky to be among those who searched and then found comfort and a natural affinity for where I live.  I have arrived at what therapy people call “goodness of fit,” for here lies resonance deep and true.  The trees, wildlife, soft breezes on water, birdsong and quiet, time to think, and even  unyielding old Georgia red clay – all ordinary, but having a sameness and familiarity that I treasure. I stay here because of these things. It is no small thing to have such a place outside the window, and a feeling for place carried inside of you as well.  When those places are one and the same, you’ll know you’re Home for good.