Rooting around for 25 years

   A long, long time ago when I was a single mom looking for a church, an Atlanta pastor invited me to a stewardship dinner. "There's free babysitting," he said. "I'll be there," I promised. That was in October.
   At the dinner I found myself sitting across the table from a really nice guy.     Sometime in March he called me. The next thing I knew we were on a date. If you call a walk in the woods at Fernbank with a two-year-old a date. But he didn't seem to mind that I couldn't find a babysitter.
   In May we had our first real date to a party hosted by a couple at church.
   "Where are we going?" I asked.
   "Lilburn," he said.
   "Where's Lilburn?"
   "Somewhere out in Gwinnett County."
   "Where's Gwinnett County?"
   "Out beyond Stone Mountain."
   "People actually live out there?"
   Two months later we were married. Two years later we bought a home-I couldn't believe it-in Lilburn.
   Two days later my ex-mother-in-law, Frances said, "I can't believe you bought a house in Lilburn."
   "Why, because you didn't think anyone actually lived there?" I asked.
   "Why, no! Mama grew up in Lilburn. Mama was a Nash. I can't believe Ian will grow up in the same town as his great-grandmama," she said. "In fact, there's a cemetery in Lilburn where the Nashes are buried along with the Garners, Millers and Pounds. They're all related by marriage. They're all kinfolk to Ian."
   Two weeks later, I discovered that cemetery was within walking distance of my house. I always wanted to record the names and get together with Frances to see who was related to whom. But I got busy. Along with the usual child-rearing rituals, like ten million miles of carpooling, we handled two births, four Confirmations, three graduations, two weddings and a funeral. There was no time for digging up people from the past, even if they were shirttail cousins, as they say in the South.
   But after our son Leif graduates from Georgia Tech this month, we'll be empty nesters. I'll have time to trace my roots-or ex-roots to be more exact-in Lilburn. Except now that Frances has passed away, where would I begin? And on the other hand, just last month we welcomed our fifth grandchild, Brooke Elizabeth. Our grandson Layne will graduate from Central Gwinnett before we know it and Christopher, KayLynne and Brittany won't be far behind. No time to dig up roots when our offspring are planting them. 
   I never dreamed on that moonlit night when this wonderful guy drove me way out beyond Stone Mountain to some place where I thought no one even lived, that we would celebrate this day, our twenty-fifth anniversary, in that very place. And after all these years of rooting myself in this community, I must say, "Yes! I've really lived here!"

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