I’ve spent the better part of a decade discussing with people why I chose to live where I do. They always try and steer the conversation to all the offerings other cities claim make their city the best place to live. Things they claim will enhance your life. They talk about museums, new restaurants, outside actives and anything you could put together in a brochure to make Anywhere, USA sound like the lost city of Atlantis.

But when it comes down to it, the museums are gone to once and never again, the places to eat offer the same food as anywhere else. The beer is just as cold anywhere else as it is here. Festivals are never as good as expected, and outdoor actives are forgotten about and never done.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to visit other cities, and I love to take in what they have to offer while I’m there. I’ve visited more places than most people I know can imagine. I have a great time taking in new sights, sounds, and everything that comes with visiting somewhere new.

But if there is one thing I’ve found, it’s not the things other cities offer that will make you happy, but rather the people you can share them with. Columbia has offered me more than I could list. To working for three Inc 500 winners, to game day Saturdays, to basketball games, to golf tournaments, to Thursday nites, to trips taken out of town, to ‘Suns Up Guns Up.’ It’s the people I’m with that make all those events fun and possible, not actually the events themselves.

I always say that you can’t choose where you were born, but you can choose where you live. I love this town. I always have, and I always will.

I’m not crazy. I know Columbia isn’t London, Paris, New York or even San Diego. But it’s a great place to live, have fun, and work. And working with the people in this town is an honor, and a privilege.

You see, every town in the world claims it’s the best place to live. And that can’t always be true. But somewhere, some town, really is the best to live in the world. Somewhere, that place exists.

So why can’t it be here?