As most of you know, I grew up at Cherokee Estate and began working there when I graduated from college. Almost four years ago, I landed my dream job teaching Pre-K at the school where I was a student teacher. It was an opportunity too good to pass up. While I was sad to leave Cherokee, I also knew that they had prepared me as well as they could to experience the world.
When I was in college, Nikita Jordan (Director of Cherokee Estate and MountainView) told me, “When you don’t have anywhere else to go . . . you can always come home.”
I’m not sure I understood how important that was or that Nikita realized that I would blow up her phone for the rest of our lives. I took advantage of that frequently in college. As I have gotten older, I realized there really is no place like home.
Someone once said to me, “I guess you have to figure out stuff on your own since you grew up in a ‘group home.’” I quickly laughed and told her, “No, I do exactly what anyone else does . . . I call home.”
The first time I needed to move because the plan I had just didn’t work out, I called home. When my heart was broken by a boy? Call home. Need to figure out what to wear? There’s no one better than Nikita to call for that. Stuck in a situation that you don’t want to be in? Call home. Fall in love? Call home. Can’t figure out where something is in the grocery store, or if I made something cute for my classroom? I’m calling home for that, too.
There is a great comfort in knowing that no matter where life takes me, in trial or in triumph, I can always call home. I will always be grateful for that. Thank you for all that each of you do to not only give Georgia’s children a chance at having a better life, but for giving them a home. Thank you.