Show Us Your World #3

It’s my turn to show you my world.

It will be hard enough, following these sweet, evocative posts – but what makes it harder is that I’ve always felt pretty rootless. Where is “my” world? I grew up on and around a variety of Army bases, then settled into a little backwoods country town in Georgia for high school. I moved up to north Georgia for college, then to south Florida for my husband’s years in medical school, then to Tennessee for his internship, and now I’m here. In the Midwest.

We live on the south side of the Ohio River – we’re basically in a suburb of Cincinnati, but we have a Kentucky ZIP code.




This is a place where we get four beautiful seasons. It’s a place where the weather and the light and the earth itself speak to me of patience, work, rest, the cycle of life. It’s such a contrast from our years in Fort Lauderdale, where the pace was frenetic and I longed for a space with trees nearby.




This is a place where the highways are cut through hills, where roads bend and curve. A place where bridges span little creeks and mighty rivers.




This is a place where families are important. You can see it in the many parks, attractions, cultural opportunities, clubs, sports, groups, and classes available for kids here. You can see it in the eyes of your servers at restaurants – no condemnation here for bringing your little one out to eat. You can see it in the well-planned, well-prepared spaces for children at our churches. Families play together in the cul-de-sac at the end of our driveway, shouting greetings at others out for an evening stroll.




This is a place where I have the best of both worlds – small town life, with a big city just minutes away. My house has a lovely yard, our neighborhood is quiet and safe. I can walk down the hill to the little market to pick up a few groceries, or drive a few miles to the big, well-stocked, Anything You Need And Usually More Store. The little town newspaper covers local “best friends,” features pictures of schoolkids’ projects like they are hot news items, and sponsors a weekly “where around town did we take this tiny bit of a picture?” contest. Just up the road, Cincinnati offers all the luxuries of city life: theatre, restaurants, museums, major sports teams, concerts, a symphony orchestra.


This place where I live is fascinating. It’s pleasant and happy. But is this place my world? I learned a long time ago that the places I live usually don’t last forever. As much I love this house, this neighborhood, this city, this river and the states that hug its banks, I know I probably won’t live here forever. When Heather first mentioned this project, this is what I thought of:

This is my world.