Home to Brookwood High School

Photo By Grey Media Productions

When you think about the word community, the feeling around it is not often perceived as an extension of your family. But as you witness the familiar faces that surround us in our Brookwood community, that is exactly what we get to celebrate every day.

I remember sitting down with my kids before we left Florida, creating a vision board for everything they wanted to experience in their new life in Georgia. Seven years later, I can see where so many of those dreams have come true. I have spoken to many people who have moved here in the past five years, and they all have shared similar feelings to mine that this community has a feeling of Home beyond just a house and a place to live.

Growing up in central Florida, I can speak firsthand about the difference between my childhood in Hillsboro County and my children's experiences here in Gwinnett. As a young mother, I remember not being comfortable letting my children go to the mailbox for fear that a reckless driver would ver off and hit them. But here, they play in the cul-de-sac and, throughout the neighborhood, make friends and memories wherever they go.

Brookwood Elementry hosted its annual parent-daughter dance last Friday. A smile lit up my face as I saw my pastor ( John Stalls - Grace Snellville ) and many of the dads from the baseball field there with their daughters again—a reminder of this unique community I am so grateful to call home.

Childhood has a significant effect on one's foundations as an adult. Where we grow up and the experiences we have as a child profoundly shape how we see the world. My only regret is that I didn't move here sooner. So, if you are new to the area, welcome home! If you have been here all your life, thank your lucky stars because you have had the privilege to grow up in an area where dreams are made, the kind of place they depict in movie scripts of small-town communities, that mythical idea of a place that often eludes you, that place called HOME!