Yes - I do love Vermont. WHOLEHEARTDLY. If you are familiar with what a sense of place is you will understand. I am not from Vermont, nor is my family, although to be fair to my "New England" lineage, my father was born in Massachusetts as was my grandmother.
This sketchy connection to the state I love has nothing to do with birth rights. It has everything to do with a peace within, natural beauty, soulful-real people, who will welcome you with a healthy dose of skepticism and a friendly smile. "Where are you from" is always asked, as it has been in every other location I have lived, but it is never met with that look...you know that look...... when you are from somewhere else. Its the look that you don't belong. Vermont is different, people ask to see how "they" might be connected to you, either through the town, church or family. If you are not from around there, you are quickly made to feel as if you should be.
"Let me tell you where the best swimming hole is", "You should go to (insert name here, there are many) General Store, they have the best meats in town!".
Undeniably Vermont beauty is all around -
it will literally take your breath away......
This must be where chucking it all and going for it came from!
I will tell you more in future posts about my love for Vermont, my dreams for it and all the realities that come with being pulled from afar. Until then, I will take Bella's lead...and plan our next adventure "home".
"...Vermont is a state I love. I could not look upon the peaks of Ascutney, Killington, Mansfield, and Equinox, without being moved in a way that no other scene could move me. It was here that I first saw the light of day; here I received my bride, here my dead lie pillowed on the loving breast of our eternal hills.
ReplyDeleteI love Vermont because of her hills and valleys, her scenery and invigorating climate, but most of all because of her indomitable people. They are a race of pioneers who have almost beggared themselves to serve others. If the spirit of liberty should vanish in other parts of the Union, and support of our institutions should languish, it could all be replenished from the generous store held by the people of this brave little state of Vermont."
Former President Coolidge's moving speech delivered at Bennington in 1928, can sum up the swell of emotion I feel every time I cross the border from New York or Massachusetts into her clean beauty. Much like the scene used in the picture above, I lose myself in time daydreaming about a rolling river framed by a deep dark forest underneath the sleepy splendor of sprawling mountains. Vermont may not be where I am from, but it will always be where I go in my mind. Thank you, Cindy, for understanding...
Thank you for the comments and the lovely quotes from President Coolidge.
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