My wife, Carlotta, and I lived in Atlanta, Georgia for several years before discovering Lake Burton, near Clayton, Georgia. Working in the Construction Industry, as self employed home builders, we seldom had time to explore the North East mountains of Georgia. It wasn’t until a rafting trip to Tennessee, after which we stopped at a friend’s house on Lake burton, did we even know the lake existed. But upon arrival, boy did we know about the lake then.

It is difficult for me to describe the feelings and sensations I felt when setting my eyes upon the lake for the first time. Awe inspiring. Breath taking. Sense of belonging. Overwhelming! But all of these phrases do not really conjure up that first feeling. Actually, what I remember most vividly is thinking, no knowing really, that I wanted to be here and make this my home.

I have to give my sister-in-law Barbara Evans credit for getting us to the lake the first time. She kept telling us how wonderful and amazing Lake Burton actually was. So, for all the hard times I’ve given her over the years, in fun of course, and not that I am asking for her to forgive me now, but thanks Barbara for a discovery of a lifetime.

The only other place that I have felt this way about is my wife’s family’s home in Populonia, Italy. Not that it is mine, or that I have a sense of possessing it, but that place just feels right to me; as if it were mine and I built it. It isn’t, I didn’t, but somehow it is a part of me. Going back to my ancestral roots I guess. I know, I know, my family is from Sicily but it still feels like home. But I digress.

So, it wasn’t long after that first visit that I made a declaration to Carlotta; I want a home on Lake Burton. Not a place to rent, a place to call home. Well it took a while but we made it happen. We have a home on Lake Burton, which we hope to keep until past 2012. So, let’s hope the Mayans were wrong!