We moved to Viroqua, Wisconsin nearly two years ago. I was extremely pregnant, and extremely ready to be Home with a capital "h". We fell for Viroqua a few years before because it fulfilled our requirements of What-We-Want-To-Surround-Ourselves-With-Everyday.
Pete and I very deliberately aligned ourselves with this life we now live. We sat down one night and made a list of our "Non-Negotiables". After a week of tweaking, six items remained on our list. They are:
1. Community: We chose to surround ourselves with kindred souls. A beautiful place loses much of its beauty without the connection of community.
2. Proximity to my family: Close enough for weekend visits with my parents and sister in Milwaukee.
3. Green Space: We all need to surround ourselves with the peace of nature. Especially moving from the country, we need our biophilia fix.
4. A home that we love: Why settle for anything but a place to make your heart sing?
5. Alternative schooling: Should our kids ever decide to go to school, we'd like to have a rockin' option. (Viroqua's options are Waldorf, Waldorf, and charter. Not too shabby for a town of less than 5,000.)
6. Work: Pete was commuting 2 1/2 hours a day. Done with that.
And so we looked at the map and, as one friend here put it, Viroqua was the place where all of those lines intersected. How true. Each year a few more kindred souls roll into town, and we're thrilled to meet each of them. This place is magic, and they are much of the reason why.
It seems Mother Earth News thinks so, too. Our little town is one of this month's Nine Great Places You've Never Heard Of.
