I grew up on a former apple orchard and spent my youth outside wandering the slowly developing orchard. Little by little, land was sold and another house was built surrounded by those craggy apple trees. I loved those trees and that orchard. Eventually, most of the land was built on amongst those apple trees. As my brothers and I grew older, my parents decided to move but that apple orchard and the memories of being a child there are a part of my soul; always have been and always will be. 

My Favorite Place was written years later, when I had a family of my own. My husband and I and our three kids lived on a beautiful hill near a rolling dairy farm that we were lucky enough to see every day. It was my favorite place to jog, which I did most days after teaching. I’d stop and say hi to the cows, often climbing the fence to pet them. 

That particular Saturday morning I jogged by and saw a For Sale sign. That morning I ran home and wrote My Favorite Place. Originally, I had the farmer decide not to sell the farm but the revised ending was more realistic and turned out to be true. The farm was sold and before long the beautiful rolling land was developed with big houses and the cows were gone. We missed that farm and those cows immensely.

Apple orchards, farms, sunflower fields, and cows give me much peace and child-like joy and will always be a few of my favorite things.