DOT WATSON

Contributor

If you read the local newspaper or follow the Chamber of Commerce web-site, you are aware that the annual event entitled “Women Impacting the Community” will be occurring again this year on 5 May at the Atlantic venue and tickets are available at the Chamber office. It is always a lovely event so I hope to see you there.

Early in the sequence of this yearly event, I was unknowingly nominated for one of the awards. Not only was I surprised when I had been nominated, but I was so shocked when I had been selected as the winner in that category. But an even bigger shock came before we left that day, when the President of the Chamber said “This means that you get to be the speaker at this event next year!” My immediate response was “What am I supposed to speak about?”” I was told I could talk about anything I wanted to speak about! Wow!!! At least I had a year to think about it and prepare!

Finally, I had a topic selected, and it was “Roots”. My friends and family thought that was a crazy topic especially for me because I am not a gardener at all! I told them to get their tickets and come to hear what I had to say about “Roots”!

The day arrived that I was to be the speaker! My knees were shaking! I took a deep breath! This is a synopsis, and I thought “Here it goes!” I told the guests that I was going to talk about Roots, and that when they heard that, maybe they would think it was time to plant their root gardens, or maybe it was time to go to see their hairdresser and have their “roots” touched up a bit, or maybe it would bring to mind the famous mini-series “Roots” by Alex Haley, or maybe they would be inspired to do some genealogical research and check out some of their family roots as so many folks are doing these days. But those were not the subject of the roots I was talking about.

I went on to say that the “roots” I wanted to talk about were where each of the attendees was planted. I said that I was born in Tullahoma almost 80 years ago, and that I loved our community. I said that very few of you were born here, but many have come here for various reasons and that being here today, you are planting yourself in this community. I shared that as a military wife that we had moved 20 times in our first 30 years of our married life. We made a conscious decision before we started our family that we were going to be positive about wherever we were sent.

There is no utopia, so we decided we would focus on the positive things about the places we were sent. I said it is so important wherever you are, it is important to be involved in your neighborhood, the schools your children attend, your church, and some type of volunteer activity.

Those activities are like watering your “roots” so that you feel a part of your community. It is so important to be involved wherever you are.

Volunteering in your community is like the salve on a sore! Eventually if jobs take you somewhere else, you will be resistant to move because your roots have grown so deep. Often, I am asked what place we were sent we liked the best. My answer: that is a very difficult question to answer as we really liked everyplace we lived. We still have friends in most of those places, and we stay in contact with them!

When the time came for my husband to retire, he said to me “You have followed me to the ends of the Earth, so I will go where you want to go now.” And without a minute of hesitation, I said I want to go home to Tennessee! And in a nano-second, he gave me a thumbs up! We returned in 1992 and have loved being back in the garden where my original roots were planted. There have been many changes, but it is still a growing community full of vim and vigor. I wish I had more time to do more.