Chances are I am not from where you live, but I may have been there. I may have even lived there at one time or another. Through the years, I have been blessed to see many wonderful and beautiful places and met many marvelous people. I have lived in four states in my lifetime. I grew up in Alabama and have spent most of my life here, but I have also lived in Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana. I have never lived in Tennessee, but I have lived so close I could see it! I love this nation of ours. I have set foot in every state in the union except three and later this year I will narrow that number to two. I have enjoyed visiting each one of those states, but I must admit I am partial to the South, and I do love my home state of Alabama.
Over the past 11 years, I have had the privilege of being in many of your homes. No, perhaps not in person, but at least through my writings. You may hear from me every week, and I hear from some of you almost as often. Since I have been doing this column, I have gotten mail, emails and Facebook messages from all over the state, as well as from other states. I do enjoy your kind messages. Because my columns are carried by newspapers in various parts of the state, and are on Facebook each week, I am often asked where I live or where I grew up. That is a good question. Occasionally, I hear from readers who think I live in their town because their paper carries my column, but unless you live in the Opelika/Auburn area, that is not the case. For some of you, I have lived in your area in the past.
Where someone is from and where they live can be the same. Where I’m from and where I now live are the bookends of my life, at least at this point. I spent the first 20 years of my life in Rainsville, Alabama, and I have now spent almost that same amount of time living in Opelika, Alabama. I have lived in several places between those two. Those places include Birmingham; New Orleans; Fort Payne; Marietta, Georgia; Rainbow City; and Southaven, Mississippi. We also spent one summer, as well as weekends for a year, in Butler, Alabama, and weekends for a couple of years near Linden, in the neighboring community of Half Acre.
Although I have not lived in my hometown in almost 50 years now, it is a place and a people that is very near and dear to my heart. Many of the “firsts” in my life happened there. Much of who and what I am has its roots in my hometown. I did have the privilege of returning to my home county when we spent five years in Fort Payne. That was practically the same as being back home. I am a bit envious of those who have had the joy of spending their lives where they grew up. There is a connectedness to that which may not be found anywhere else. The other side of that is that I have enjoyed getting to experience new places and meet new people.
Opelika has become a great home for us and likely will our last one on this earth, but one day, we will live in a place that is out of this world! I hope to see the rest of this nation and a little more of this world, but I am excited about moving to my eternal home one day!
Bill King can be reached at bkpreach@yahoo.com or 334-728-5514 (office).
