Home is where the heart is

This is the very oldest section of Fairfax, Virginia... the town I grew up in and lived in until I moved to Idaho. I have lived in Idaho for almost 30 years, but I still consider this old beautiful city home.

My father was an attorney in Fairfax for my whole life after attending law school at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville where I was born. He was a good lawyer... I know I have mentioned that before.

And my mother painted this courthouse when I was a toddler. Those paintings were cherished by my dad. I believe he requested them in the divorce.

This rock wall is significant to me because it is the first time I can remember any adult paying attention to me as if I mattered. There was a hippie sitting on this wall wearing funky striped bell-bottoms and a tunic. I was sitting in the back seat of my mother's car stopped at the light in front of the courthouse. He was flashing the peace sign in my direction. I was completely taken aback when I realized that he was directing that peace sign towards me. I "peaced" him back, and then promptly got a piece of paper and my mother's lipstick and wrote "peace not war" and placed it in the back window of my mom's station wagon. I am pretty sure that moment shaped a lot of who I am.

My home is in Idaho, of course. And it is an incomparable place to live. But the moment I get off the plane at Dulles airport and the humid air oppressively hits me, and I smell that unique and wonderful smell of Virginia, I know where my heart lies. You just can't take the Virginia out of this girl.