My Tennessee Story:

Tennessee has swept me up in ways I didn’t expect.  

When I was 20, I wrote a letter to the baby I named Tennessee, not knowing how prophetic it would be.  To be honest, Tennessee - even visiting Nashville at all, was not even on my radar the last 10 years.  I saw a few Instagram stories of some bachelorette parties going to Nashville and I was like “that’s so weird, what is there to even do there,” and would move along. 

 I thought it was kind of a lost state.  (Notttttt saying Morgan put it on the map for west coasters but like he did lol) - anyways, not ALL PEOPLE associate country music with Nashville.  

I’ve been listening to and writing country music since I was like 10 years old.  Never once did I think “Nashville” was where country music was made.  I never watched the show, cared about the mediocre acts coming out of it, or dreamed of visiting.  Pre pandemic it was probably 20th on my list to visit.  Anyways, you get the point.  Sometimes you don’t know where you’re supposed to end up and it’s right under your nose.

When Portland started falling apart, I knew I needed to get out and honestly Nashville just because the thing because of a process of elimination.  New York? Too big.  Florida? Gross. Cali? Not interested and too expensive.  Chicago? Too cold.  South south? Too hot and too slow.  It was kinda just the only thing that made sense… and *also* was a great place for music.

I would say I moved to Tenn 10% for music and 90% to meet a nice southern charmer and settle down. (Portland doesn’t have the best selection of my type; no offense. 😬)

Anyways, I could go on and on about why I’ve developed an affinity for the volunteer state - but I just feel more at home in Nashville than I do in PDX.  It’s full of opportunity, growth, music, and good people.  It’s kinda stuck in the middle like I feel I am with everything.  Not too far south, not too far north, not too far east, ya know, just right. 

We may not be here forever, idk, we shall see! But although this past year has been a lot of transition and remarkably hard- I am so happy with what came of it.  Dana is the most unique human I’ve ever met and I never thought I’d meet someone who I could genuinely say is my soulmate until I met him.  I would stare at these hinge guys and get lost in the bore.  I had no idea what was waiting for me when I got to Nashville, but it turns out it was everything I’ve ever wanted + more.  So yeah, I guess you can say it means a bit more than a win for the orange team to me.