Shadows of Blood and Dirt

Why do we connect with some areas more than others?  I’m not talking about houses or structures, I’m talking about place, light, topography, land, water, trees, sand, dirt, and air. Scientists call it Place Attachment. After car trip musings and fascinating conversations with many wonderful strangers, I’m surmising attachment is due to a variety of things with some of the strongest being the familial/familiar and opportunity/occupation. But I’m still curious about that elusive connection that seems to make your chest tight for a minute followed by that full inhalation that settles that tightness into a warm hug around your heart and a feeling in your gut that goes, “yeah, this is me.” And can we separate that gut connection from the others? Or is it the family, the opportunities, memories, and experiences associated with people that influence our gut whether we want it to or not?

I get such a strong feeling from certain places that I wonder if it’s in our blood, in our actual organic matter. The research I’ve done (although limited) seems to focus on how Place Attachment inspires people to protect place not why they are connected to place. But it’s an organic connection that I’m interested in. More than interested. Keeps me up at night sometimes. We are organic matter made from organic matter fueled by organic matter that all came from stardust. Generations of shared blood that has been created and sustained by certain waters, minerals, and nutrients. Is that blood drawn to specific areas on earth that magnet -like causes a pull? A real physical response like human magnets to their special metal; a “Place DNA” created through thousands of years of shared organic material and stardust. DNA can predict physical traits, but can it also predict where a person might feel more connected?

As I travel by “don’t blink or you’ll miss it town” to “major metropolis” to “rural farmland” I always think, “who LIVES here?!” and “WHY?”. Not because it’s a bad place but because it’s so different from where I live. I find myself wondering how many residents were born here. Did they move here for work? Is their family here? Are they generational residents? Are they wanting to get out because that place is just “not a good fit”, or is it their heart home?

I feel a variety of connections in my native Florida. I love the state and have family, friends, and memories that influence all of it. But is there something organic that connects me? I also feel it in the southern range of the Blue Ridge Mountains where my ancestors first came to America before trickling down to FL. I’m wondering if generations of my Scottish clan drinking these waters, eating produce and proteins grown in this soil (we eat about 6lbs of dirt in our lifetime), breathing in these particular pollens and airborne particles, have passed down into my blood and formed a generational organic magnet to specific areas. I don’t know. I just know I feel it.

We are stardust

We are golden

And we've got to get ourselves

Back to the garden

-Joni Mitchell