As the plane descended through the grey haze that occluded my view of the landscape below, I could feel my anticipation build.

Suddenly, there it was – farms and countryside, church steeples and baseball fields, and the great Smoky Mountains.

An hour drive from the airport, and I’m on a barely paved road that bumps and jostles me around the corner and up a hill, where I park my rental wherever I can find a spot near the farmhouse perched at the top of the hill.

The kids run to great me, carrying puppies and carefree as they can be. Friendly smiles break forth from the two Woofers, and I wave as I inhale deeply, taking it all in.

A big dinner is being prepared, soon served generously, family style. The kids are friendly and shy by turn, and we talk about our favorite books around a big wooden table.

The kids scatter, and the dogs head outside to join us on my tour of the farm.

Fruit trees are blossoming, or budding with promise to. The sheep quietly munch their fresh patch of grass while the lambs bleat “Ma! Ma!” We walk along, crunching through gravel and dodging scat, while the rascally lambs jump through electric fence, in search of a bottle to suckle on.

Over here, a pond. There, the rolling hen house, surrounded by dozens of chickens and roosters, milling about and giving a low warning “awwwww” if we get too close.

The air cools by the minute as the sun wanes as the breeze picks up. Daylight savings gives us time to sit on the porch, talking openly and honestly for as long as we want, and it’s as refreshing to me as the sweet country air.

I sit in the quiet stillness in the hollow of the hills. Night has fallen, and I want to bottle this feeling and carry it South.

I’m country – I know it in my bones. I’ve traveled the world, and spent most of my life moving every few years.

This I know, though – where there are mountains, farms and fields, dandelions and katydids, daffodils and lilacs…this is home to me.

Until the day I can come back and set my roots, I’ll cherish every moment I spend here, no matter how brief it is.