My Vermont is home. I don’t use that word lightly! For me it is
more than just a place of residence or a place of origin. It goes beyond a
familiar or usual setting. Home is a deeply anchored web of roots.
Home means family both in blood and in community; family that includes
neighbors who stop everything to run up the hill with shovels in hand to chip
away at ice and redirect the spring run-off from flooding your house. Neighbors
whose response to "I owe you one," is "no you don’t…this is what neighbors do."
That night standing saturated to the bone in freezing March rain we stood over
our shovels and agreed wholeheartedly that this is one of the things we love about
small Vermont communities. Neighbors are happy to leave you
alone and at the same time drop everything to help when you need them.
As a teenager I couldn’t wait to leave and
make my mark on this world somewhere else, somewhere bigger, brighter, more
exciting. The wanderlust dissipated quickly during my first year of college out
of state. Much to my surprise the only place I wanted to be was home-not
because I lost ambition, or had given up on my dreams. In fact, quite the
opposite was true. I began to see that the very place my ambitions and dreams
would come to fruition was right here in Vermont. The urge to give back to the community who gave me
so much was overwhelming and for the past ten years that is exactly what I’ve
been doing.
My Vermont can’t be explained adequately in words. It is more
than the quintessential photographs of brilliant fall leaves, or rolling pastures, quiet country inns, or fluffy
ski slopes. My Vermont is connection, community, family, the deep
comfortable roots of home.
Sarah Jo, Bakersfield