When I was in high school I was in a musical that included a song with these lyrics:
It’s oh so good to be home again,
Among the folks we know!
Ah, there is a friendly hand.
And that one smiles at me.
We liked the folks away from home,
But here we’d rather be.
It’s oh so good to be home again,
Among the folks we know!
These words came to my mind as we returned to Mount Vernon at the beginning of August after a hurried trip across the country for my mother-in-law’s funeral. It was an emotionally and physically draining trip and it felt good to return not only to our home but to our town. With so much that had been unsettled for us with this trip, our home was a welcome sight.
While we were gone, we marked our 10 year anniversary of moving to Mount Vernon. This is the longest that our family has ever lived in one place. And this is now the longest place that my husband and I have ever lived in our whole lives. We both grew up with our families moving around the country and we did that with our daughters, but when we moved here in 2013, we had an inkling that we were going to be staying.
At a Mount Vernon High School Homecoming Football game about 9 years ago, the honored alumni were being recognized at halftime. Margaret, then 8 years old, turned to us and said, “I want to be Mount Vernon Alumni.” We realized that we had found a special place to live and we needed to plan to settle down. I’m pleased to say that all four of our daughters are now Mount Vernon Alumni.
We were exhausted when we arrived here in July of 2013 from Tyler, Texas. Only my husband had ever seen the home we had purchased in the Ash Park Historic District, so we were trying to get familiar with it before the moving truck arrived. Neighbors soon began to arrive to introduce themselves, bring goodies, and welcome us to the area. As soon as the girls’ bikes were unloaded, they were off to explore our neighborhood and try to make friends before school started.
Our girls soon discovered something truly wonderful about Mount Vernon; it is the best place for kids to be active and independent. In other places we’d lived they’d been able to walk or ride bikes to friends’ houses, but here they could also easily access the Library and the shops Uptown. They felt so independent and I was very comfortable with them heading to these various locations. This newfound mobility helped them to feel at ease here and to be excited about yet another place we had moved to.
We have a family philosophy to embrace wherever we live as our hometown. We feel it is important to learn all about where you live and to make it your home. I have met too many people who tell me that they are “really” from some other place instead of where they are currently living (which is often quite ludicrous when they have been living in the current place for several years).
It has been easy to call Mount Vernon our hometown. We have loved learning the history of this charming town and have felt welcomed by the kind people we have had the opportunity to get to know. Like many of you, we enjoy traveling and exploring new places. We “like the folks away from home, but here we’d rather be.” Our choice to move here was truly serendipitous; we wanted to find a place that our girls would feel a connection to once they had left home and our daughter has now moved back home after graduating from college.
If you don’t know your neighbors or don’t feel a connection to Mount Vernon, start by getting to know the people who live closest to you. Take a walk around Uptown and support the great businesses and restaurants we have here. If you aren’t already in the habit of saying it, practice saying that Mount Vernon is your hometown (you can share other places you’ve lived, but embrace this town as your own). Together we can celebrate this town as our own and help others to feel they are a vital part of Mount Vernon.