The Baseball
Ah, the summer game. There were Atlanta Braves games constantly playing on the TV. I saw a few Nashville Sounds AAA games in a smaller-sized stadium with great beer and kickass sight lines. Wonderful ballparks with knowledgeable, friendly fans. Bliss.
The People
"Southern hospitality" is no joke. Local folks are unfailingly polite and talkative with strangers. I got my small talk mojo back explaining our complicated, bicultural family history. Our next-door neighbors were sweet and conscientious people. We lived in a diverse community with plenty of residents who were "from away" like us. Generally, people would smile and wave when they recognized you. Kids wandered around the neighborhood in relative safety; someone's parent was always watching over them. It wasn't Mayberry, but it was a nice, safe place to have the girls experience the suburban North American way of life.
The Roads & The Greenery
Typing this makes me miss my motorcycle. I loved that I could hop on my trusted Kawasaki 600 bike and within five minutes I'd be on a backwoods country road with trees on both sides. Only a few other vehicles shared the pavement with me. The pleasure driving was wonderful and a welcome stress relief at times.
Locals would complain about traffic jams…but there weren't any traffic jams! And I wallowed in day jaunts with friends from work. We'd explore the small towns outside the orbit of Nashville, often trips back in time. The pinnacle of my bike touring in the South was our trip along the Natchez Trace Parkway all the way down to Louisiana, and back. In short, unforgettable two-wheeled memories.
My work assignment neared its end. Then came the onset of the COVID-19 lockdowns. During the initial quarantine, we used the space in our house and our backyard to the max. I started remote work; the girls had no school. After getting progressively stir crazy within a few weeks, we started "family hikes." First was furtive day hikes in local city trails, then we got enough confidence to head off into the state parks. There were beautiful hiking trails. Until COVID, we never had the inclination nor the time to explore them. In a nutshell, rural Tennessee was delightful.
But there is one shockingly horrible thing about Tennessee life I must point out…
The one thing I DON'T miss about Tennessee
The food. Because it's too damn tasty, too damn much, and I couldn't stop eating it. Damn you, exquisite southern cooking. Damn you, Publix and Kroger supermarkets. Damn you, magnificent dry rub BBQ places everywhere in sight and Dairy Queen (I didn't forget you, evil purveyor of cold milky rich goodness). And double-damn you ballpark hot dogs.
The war of the waistline was hell.
Hey, Volunteer State, thanks for the wonderful memories!
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