Where I'm From

There was a country song out last year called "Where I'm From." It's an endearing story about a simple, country boy who meets a rich, cosmopolitan man on his plane flight to LA. Well, I hate to break it to Jason Michael Carroll, but about two years before he recorded his hit tune, I penned my own "Where I'm From."

Almost three years ago, in November of 2007, I was challenged by a friend to put into words "Where I'm From." So, here is what I wrote. Re-reading it, I am again challenged to process the last three years and add some new lines. We'll see. For now, here you go.

I Am From...

-Two hours in the car serenaded by the Beatles and James Taylor

-The familiar smell of warm funnel cakes and sticky hands covered in powdered sugar

-Blue skies with an orange sunset as the day ends and the excitement begins

-A man and a woman both in love with a place that would later become my home.

-10 years later with hopes, dreams, and goals ending in disappointment

-Finding myself in a familiar place that is a totally new world

-Hideous 70's architecture and dusty desks

-Beautiful antebellum buildings that hold my history

-Women who sought to "gain understanding that wisdom may be vouched safe to them"

-Country songs and dirt road rides

-Crisp November Saturday nights warmed only by the body heat of 90,000 of my closest friends and the smell of bourbon

-Sunday mornings at church and Panera

-Early mornings, lazy afternoons, and late nights

-Becoming one of many, yet uniquely my own