Once you learn small-town mountain ways, it’s easy to return, even if it’s been decades.
I’m heading back home to someplace I’ve never lived before.
After 25 years of pleasant small town life in Boone, North Carolina, where my husband and I raised our three children, followed by a decade in Asheville—“empty nesting” amid great restaurants, endless entertainment and phenomenal architecture —we are suddenly moving to the country.
Suddenly, that is, to our friends and family.
From the shocked reactions we’ve had, I see now that Saul and I forgot to fill everyone in on nearly 40 years of back story when we made the big announcement.
One day last fall we headed up to Maryland ostensibly for the memorial service after my mother’s death, and a week later returned to Asheville with an accepted offer to purchase a little house with a few acres near Fries, Virginia. It’s pronounced Freeze, as many of you know, and the beautiful New River flows past it and rolls on through the woods.
Stares of incomprehension, the tilting of heads and narrowing of eyes, as if Saul and I, known for our love of the urban lifestyle, had gone mad:
“What’s it near?” is the most common question.
Answer: It’s about 20 miles from Independence.
“Is there any…civilization?” (This question invariably comes with a grimace, especially from the Asheville crowd.)
Answer: Yes, actually. There’s a tiny library that’s open a few days a week, there’s a nearly 110-year-old community center with duckpin bowling and weekly jam sessions for local musicians, and there’s a fiddler’s convention every August. There’s a general store with groceries and boiled peanuts. There’s electricity, phone service and Internet.
“What in the world are you going to do there?”
Answer: Ahhh. Hike, bike, lie out on a blanket at night and gaze at a million stars. Collect yard art and rig up a tire swing for the grandkids. Volunteer somewhere.
. . . END OF PREVIEW
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