There’s No Place Like Home
Posted By Randy Jones on May 16, 2009
The eminent novelist Thomas Wolfe once posited that you can’t go home again; in fact, that was the title of one of his best-received novels. Well, I beg to differ. I admit that growing up among the tall pines of Carrollton, Georgia, I often dreamed of the world outside this quaint little hamlet. I wanted to experience that wider world and all its attendant glories. And looking back now, I can say that I have seen much of the world and tasted many of its splendors. I’ve set foot on every continent save Australia. I have climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and conducted business in Europe, Asia, and South America. New York has been my home for 25 years, which many feel is the very crossroads of the world, if not the epicenter of culture. I love New York, but a couple of years ago my wife and I bought her family home and began the process of reestablishing ourselves in the land of our roots.
Carrollton doesn’t look that different today from how it did when I was growing up here; there is more traffic, but I would say there is much more culture and sophistication, too. What hasn’t changed, however, is the warmth and grace of her people, and I experienced that in spades this week as I celebrated the release of my new book, The Richest Man in Town, in my hometown. I can’t remember when I’ve had a better time, or a warmer welcome. It was like the best parts of a long-overdue family reunion, with all of the fun and frivolity of a high school reunion—but none of the adolescent angst—and all of the pleasure of a truly stimulating cocktail party where everyone is at their intellectual best. My brother and sister-in-law arranged this exquisite evening for me, and one friend said to my wife, sotto voce, “I think this is the most extraordinary display of brotherly love I have ever witnessed.”
I couldn’t agree more. I knew this already, but while I am not by any means the wealthiest man in town, because of my family and friends, I am the richest man in Carrollton, Georgia. And that is more than enough for me.
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