Here we are in Nashville, Tennessee home of The Grand Ole Opry. It is actually 2 miles down the road as the host of the KOA we are staying at told us proudly upon greeting. We are starting to tire of the driving day after day. We had planned to stay in a state park about an hour from here but there is a big difference between driving 5.5 hours/day and driving 6.5 hours/day. It is similar to the difference between having one child and having two. That last hour feels like 10. So we caved and settled for convenience over beauty for our last two nights.
I wish we weren't in the middle of Covid because I would love to see Nashville. Other than music, Nashville is known for being a sea of blue in the middle of red and for great food. Kiel tells me it is a beautiful city, but, alas... Of course if we weren't in the middle of Covid we wouldn't be moving this soon; we wouldn't have a trailer; and I would have a lot fewer airline miles. Yesterday was Tala's 10 month birthday and we would have seen her much more often than 3 times by using up those airline miles. Kiel FaceTimed us and showed us how she can stand up if he helps her and she holds onto something. Eye on the prize.
The movers came today and Nate supervised everything to perfection. When we arrive in 47 hours it will feel more like our home with our furniture there. Hilary and Nate have put up the Christmas tree and decorated it. Hilary promises a home cooked meal with her dad's favorite dessert. They have done everything they can to make us feel at home and welcome. Now it is up to us, and I am approaching it with equal parts excitement and trepidation.
It is funny how out of place we feel here in the South. We felt less out of place in Arkansas because one of Hilary's best friends from college lives there and Hilary has visited several times. But there was something eerie about driving through Tennessee. Again, when we stopped there were very few masks. We took a wrong turn off the freeway when stopping for gas and ended up driving through a neighborhood that looked like something out of "In The Heat of the Night". Poverty is poverty but it looks and feels so different in the different regions. The feeling I had driving through that neighborhood was that continuing despair I feel about the split in our country. And then there was a flash of the personal ~ how will I ever fit in?
Tomorrow we drive into our new home state. Two more nights in Nessie. Limbo is almost over. Maybe. I have no idea what is ahead.
Our couch and console in the new living room. (The pillow looks a little like how I am feeling)
Comments