I’ve written about this stuff before, but i don’t care. i’m thankful i am where i am.
As you probably know from earlier posts, i read Sean Dietrich’s columns, “Sean of the South” daily and often either share them on Facebook or make a comment with the link on posts here, like today.
Today’s column was entitled simply “Nashville.” Sean nailed it.
In 2014, Maureen and i were seriously considering moving from the Southwest corner. The motivating factor was financial, but the thought of moving back near my home of Lebanon, thirty miles east of Nashville, was intriguing to me. We had considered other places.
Austin is where our daughter, son-in-law, and grandson live and the draw was strong. But annual reports of 100 days over 100 degrees cooled (pun intended) that idea.
Thoughts about Florida were attractive. Our first year of married life together (Right after we married, about nine months of separation due to my ship deploying delayed that first year together) was pure bliss while we rented a great home in Ponte Vedra Beach. There also a lot of friends and my family there. Again, heat kept Florida from serious consideration. Hey, Maureen is a native here, and i have spent enough time in the Southwest corner to be a wimp when it comes to weather (more 7’s, 8’s, and 9’s on a scale of ten compared to any place i know in the world).
We narrowed down our choices to Chattanooga and Nashville. Maureen chose Nashville with her reasoning Vanderbilt had OSHER extended studies, which she loved attending at UCSD and San Diego State, AND Trader Joe’s. Chattanooga didn’t have either. i was glad she chose Nashville. After all, it’s just down the road from Lebanon and home to Vanderbilt and it’s athletic programs of which i’ve been a fan since like forever.
So we went back and were checking out houses and areas of Nashville that spring of 2014. When we returned to the Southwest corner, we both decided we were staying put, that we were in good enough financial state to make it here and be comfortable, even if we had to be conservative in travel and house renovation.
In my last couple of visits to Nashville (before the pandemic), i decided we had made a good choice. San Diego, Austin, and several other cities used to be places were ideal but growth came calling with a fury. The necessity for increased taxes to support such growth and traffic, and people upon people, and less access to really neat places, and the increased cost of living, and house prices have become a pain. Now it’s Nashville going that route.
Just ain’t the same. Now don’t get me wrong, Nashville is a wonderful place and Middle Tennessee is incredible in many ways. Sean captured what is good about Nashville…and what is not. Thanks, Sean.\