You’ve heard the phrase for years, “Home is where your heart is …” – so the question I’ve been pondering for a while is, what happens when your heart is in a few different places because of your past and your future you know is on the horizon?  

Of course, a part of my heart will always be wherever my parents are. My last name changed in 2020, but I’ll always be a Martin. When they moved to the farm and Denton leave till the county, that piece of my heart will go with them. Because I have spent a lot of my life in different places, I have peace in my heart in several locations.

Questions like these are what have been filling my mind recently, but I am starting to let go a little more of my Type A tendencies; the truth is, I am not the one in control anyway. I have to learn how to surrender it all to one who is.  

To be honest with you, it took me a while to feel at home here in Hartselle. Coming up now on four years here, I can’t put my finger on when it happened, but it sure did.  

I still notice it nearly every day in watching the people go in and out of the post office from my office window. When you recognize a dear friend by her haircut and yell a “hello” and “I love you” from across the street, it’s hard not to feel at home.  

When you run into a city councilman and another friend you haven’t seen in a year at the pizza place downtown, those conversations and feelings of familiarity bring comfort I feel blessed to have cultivated.  

It’s all about connection. I have connections here now, and I know I can pick up the phone and call a number of people for just about anything – and that’s an amazing feeling.  

It makes me wonder about those who don’t have those connections. I would feel so alone and isolated, much like many of us did last year during the pandemic.  

I, for one, am glad the tide seems to be changing on that front.  

I hugged a friend the other day who asked first if it was OK, and I answered, “Please, I don’t get hugged enough” – which actually isn’t true, it’s just a joke, but I say it to illustrate that I love the connection that comes along with a big hug from a friend.  

Home, connection, friends – these things have been on my mind lately. I’m thankful for all of them and blessed to live in a place where they are recognized and others see their importance, too.