WSET.com - ABC13There's No Place Like Home by Danner Evans

It's amazing how life can change. I left WSET and Virginia three years ago a newlywed. Now I'm back a mother. I think the story that brought me back to the Heart of Virginia is one you may want to hear.

I've lived a lot of places in my life. My husband calls me a gypsy – every few years I get the itch. My heart tells me, "It's time to move on, meet new people, and see new things." My career choice in television news was a good fit for this life style.

When I landed in Lynchburg, VA seven years ago from Louisiana someone told me that there's a magnet in this place that keeps people coming back. Of course, I thought that was about the craziest thing I'd ever heard.

Then I met my husband. He was born and raised in Lynchburg, loved spending time in Bath County fishing on the Cowpasture River (something we enjoy together), skiing the slopes and hiking the trails. He had absolutely no interest of ever leaving the place he calls home. He told me that on more than one occasion.

Too bad for Norwood he married me.

Three years ago when I was co-anchoring GMV with Pattie Martin and ABC 13 Mid-day when I got a call from a news director in Myrtle Beach to start a brand new station ... one built from the ground up in HD. They wanted me to anchor the main evening newscasts. The challenge spoke to my heart and my heart started speaking to me … again. It was one of those opportunities that I feared I'd regret the rest of my life if I didn't answer the call.

So we packed up our lives and moved to the beach – the dream a lot of us have. It was, to say the least, an amazing experience both professionally and personally. At work I was enjoying this tremendous challenge. At home I was enjoying a new adventure with my new husband. Then we found out we were going to have a baby!

Luke was born in 2009 – blond hair and big blue eyes (ok, he looks like his dad). As much as I loved that beach, the Lynchburg magnet everyone told me about kept pulling.

On the other end was our family: cousins, sisters, parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents. They were all people we wanted in our son's life every day. WE needed them in our lives every day. Our family, our home were calling.

So we answered the call again, this time returning to a familiar place. WSET is part of that home too – the reason why I came to this area to begin with. It's only fitting that the ABC 13 family is a part of my life once again.

There are lots of new and exciting things that will be rolling out of our station for you, the viewer, in the next couple of months and I couldn't be more honored to be a big part of it all.

Our roots are firmly planted now. I've seen a lot of our nation as a reporter and anchor and now I want to raise my family here in Virginia. I guess that just happens when you grow up and realize what's really important. It feels so good to be back where I belong and I hope you'll invite me into your homes once again every night right here on ABC 13 News.