Soon, readers of The Farmville Herald, as well as The Kenbridge Victoria Dispatch and The Charlotte Gazette, will find a 36-page magazine tucked into their papers. It’s our first annual Progress edition — a joint effort by the news staff, advertising department and production team.

This year’s theme is “25 Reasons We Love the Heart of Virginia.” I agree with every reason in the book; however, I would add a few more.

To truly appreciate the Heart of Virginia you have to live somewhere else. During the 25 years my husband served in the Navy, our family traveled from coast to coast. None of the places we lived felt like home until we found Farmville.

I recorded my observations on our transition from suburbia to small-town life in a book I published in 1989. What I wrote then still applies: “As we cleared land on our farm and started construction on the barn, we gradually became better acquainted with our adopted town. We enjoyed reading The Farmville Herald because it generally printed more good news than bad. From the radio we learned who was in the hospital, who was born and who had died, and who was having a birthday. With our gradually changing perspective, this information seemed vastly more important than the current stock market report.”

In Farmville even dreaded errands became a joy. Going to the post office, for instance, no longer meant circling the block 20 times to find a parking place — and I could leave money in the box at home if I needed stamps!

Everywhere we went in town we experienced the same attitude, “We may not have all the advantages of a big city, but what we have is yours!”

When we heard Prince Edward County referred to as “economically depressed” we couldn’t quite believe it. On that subject I wrote: “I suppose it depends on one’s perspective, but the wealth of knowledge, old-fashioned courtesy and common sense we found in Farmville seemed anything but depressing to us. We felt as if we had discovered a gold mine, yet dollars and cents had nothing to do with it. We were living in ‘economic depression’ — and having the time of our lives.”

Now some 27 years later I’ve learned much more about the community I call home. How do I love Farmville now — let me count the ways!

“25 Reasons” won’t quite do it for me, but the 2016 Progress edition — as I’m sure you’ll agree when you read it — is a very good start.

Marge Swayne is the lifestyles editor of The Farmville Herald. Her email address is marge.swayne@farmvilleherald.com.