From the Editor

ON THE COVER

Ties That Bind

Ryanne Player and her family welcomed a newborn just as the COVID-19 started and went on to build a new home and spent extra time together in the months to come. Photo by Lindsey Culver Design by Brittani Myers AAs I attempt to write this note, I’m a distracted by all that life holds at the moment. Last night I got news of a fun-loving great aunt’s passing, and just over 12 hours later came news of friends’ twins’ first breaths on this side of the womb. Joy and sorrow are mixed up inside me right now as I stare at our table of contents for this issue and try to figure out what to type for you to read about it. Looking at the headlines for what lies ahead, what I see is not so much words as people—not my family or anyone I could have called friends a couple of months ago. But I’m sure they are the friends or family of someone reading this, and I feel connected to them now that I’ve learned their stories—and now we get to share those connections with you too. At the top of the mind are Allison, Mary-Kate, Annie Marie, Ryanne and Jennifer, and their stories of teaching yoga, deciding to make a job change, moving across the country, RVing across the country and building a new home, all inspired by the quarantine we all were on a little over a year ago when COVID first arrived. Then there’s Julie Gentry, whom I connected with over Zoom this spring after The Real World Homecoming had started airing, and all the friendships she told me about both from the show and from Homewood. How could I forget Lauren Bearden and her Homewood Middle School special education students whose drum circle one was such a delight to watch? And I’ll always remember the Morrow family’s kids so eagerly welcoming our photographer Morgan Hunt and me into their home and showing us their rooms full of colors and textures that were nothing short of joyful. In this issue you’ll also get to “meet” artist Carrie Pittman, and Bray and Mary Claire Britton, the couple behind Greenhouse restaurant in Edgewood. Our Homewood’s Best winners list might be full of business names, but for each there’s a face or team behind it you’ll get to know as you shop or eat there or use their services. I know each person we feature is living a set of joys and sorrows in their own life and through their friends and family—such a tapestry of relational richness as it all comes together to form a community we call Home(wood). Thanks for reading, and feel free to share with me ideas of people to feature in this magazine in the future any time!