DH and I had moved a lot in our lives, before and after we married. About 9 years ago (hard to imagine that long ago), DH and I talked to a realtor about moving closer to our children. After he left us with his sales proposal, DH got very quiet in the dining area and I, sitting in the living room. started to cry with a pain in my gut that I had never had about a place. He came and looked at me with the most beautiful tender expression on his face saying, "we're finally home, aren't we?" He was right.
I love this area because - let me count the ways- similar values to the community, lovely seasonal climate with mild winters, beautiful lake beaches, phenomenal year-round food production, accessibility by car/transit to all the art attractions I could want, walkability in my current home, feeling safe and secure, good services of all kinds... I needed some modification to my front concrete steps. A contractor was doing a large project next door so I walked over and asked his opinion on what was involved in the modification; $300 2 days later and it is done at the same time as the large job. Another quote I had received last fall for a much larger effort but the same result was over $2000. I also discovered halfway through that he had been a neighbour of mine when he was about 12 years old or so.
Is finding a 'sense of place' when things that are important to you line up together at one spot? Can you only find it if you explore by moving or by defining what is most important to you and looking for it? Or as we did, by the pain at the thought of leaving a treasured area?