Tis The Damn Season

I have always considered Atlanta my hometown.

I was not born here, nor raised here for my entire childhood/adolescent years. And as soon as I graduated high school year I went back out to California because I thought that was still home. But I always felt called to come back here. I went back and forth a few times, trying to find my way and figure out my path. And Atlanta ALWAYS called me back. I remember telling someone, every time my plane landed here, it felt like a gigantic hug surrounding my body. 

This weekend I watched a documentary called Out Towns. It was about small town America and they made it very clear that they were focusing on unknown towns….NOT metropolitan cities, like mine. But the idea behind it was people making moves, creating communities and doing things to better their neighborhood. The documentary struck a chord with me. Here I am in one of the fastest growing cities in the world, filled with hustle and bustle, bursting real estate, ALL THE THINGS and yet, every day, when I am out and about in my area, it feels like a little ol’ hometown. 

Everyday I see the same crew at carpool, the same sweet man being pulled by his dogs in his wheelchair, the same business owners awake early as the sunrises getting the neighborhood coffee (and tacos) ready. This HUGE city has become my town, my community, my home. Where I have fallen in love. Where I have made new friends and said goodbye to loved ones. Where I have birthed 3 kids. Where their dad and I decided this will be the place where we raise them and parent them with diversity, culture and commitment to others. 

This is now my hometown and I think I knew way back when, that I would always be led back here because it is that warm hug of being at home. 

This week I am crossing something off my bucket list, which is creating a magical and beneficial space for my hometown. A community garden…..are you kidding me? I get to do this? I get to give back to this town in such a beautiful and fulfilling way? Doing it all for the community that has given so much to me and shaped so many HUGE decisions I have made. I don’t look at this as just a garden. But an opportunity to educate, to celebrate, to create, and to accept every single person who can help or who needs help. Because through my many back and forths of leaving Atlanta and coming back, I have both helped and needed it. And just like I always felt the hug, I definitely feel like it is my turn to give a hug back. 

As Tay Swift says, ‘the road not traveled looks real good now’ My hometown has done nothing but love me, and always accepted me back. So this week I am honored I get to build this garden and love it back. And that is what being a Neighborhood Sprout is all about. No matter your age, you have the choice every day to make the space around you better for all. By bettering it for you, you better it for others. We have the daily opportunity to feel that hug. And I know on Saturday, as we all do this garden together, Atlanta will for sure hug me again.