It's flippantly official.
I love Nashville.
I thought I could make it through this gig--this gift of an opportunity--without falling desperately and madly in love with this fucking city.
There I went.
There I went and fell in love and somewhere along the line I didn't even realize it. Maybe it's the stark contrast of cultures and lifestyles here--yet everyone has a common connection. It's the very feeling one gets when in Lexington with basketball. It's just something that permeates the city binding us all. I don't know what it is.
Maybe it's the food here. Oh man, the food. It's so good here. Nashville is one of the foodiest cities I've ever been too. From McDougals chicken and San Antonio Taco Co. to Margot's and Tayst and essentially every where in between. It's incredible, it's delectable, it's unforgivable. It's that good.
Maybe it's Hillsboro Village where I live. It's like a super miniature main drag of downtown without the (lovable) tackiness and country music. Fido's is one of the most special cafes--hardly a definition available for what it is. Provence is a little sliver of Paris right down the street from me (and Oh, how I miss Paris). The shops are all interesting, especially Davis Cookware.
This is a one-in-a-million shop. It looks like it's been there since 1890 and they haven't bothered to clean-up a single day since then--and thank god. Maneuvering through the store is a task; one must be paying attention. Which is apt since if you dare enter this store to dilly-dally or to come without an education on what you're looking for then don't come crying when the shop owners hardly show their impatience and contempt for your ignorance.
I learned quite early on. Last time there I had a singular mission for a 12-inch cast-iron skillet. I walked in, greeted the fine gentleman with a "Hello" and a smile and proceeding hastily to the items in question. As I looked he asked me from the counter what I was looking for. After asking if he had a heat-diffuser so as to not scratch my ceramic stove-top and to better heat the cast-iron as ceramic (I had heard) did not heat the cast-iron well, he annoyingly asked "Why do you need something like that?" After explaining my purpose he quipped, "Well let's think about the simple physics of this. Your stove is hot, this is metal, it will get hot. I was annoyed, and thought the guy thought nothing of me. I proceeded to the register but before a woman came in and asked about something--she had NO idea what she wanted or was looking for and wasn't about to figure it out anytime soon, and another man in front of me checking out was deciding things he didn't want because he didn't check the price and didn't want them anymore.
He said to me at the register after ever so genuinely and defeated, "Thank you for knowing what you wanted and being a good customer."
Now that's a store with character--customer isn't right, customer should be educated in what they want. I tend to agree.
Maybe it's the availability of everything you need within almost reaching distance. The corner store where I go for most of my groceries, I've come to know most of the workers there and greetings aren't generic "hellos" but instead, "oh, hey!"
You can't put a price on that.
I've always thought my future lied somewhere else but it starts to wear on you; that feeling of longing for something but no something in sight. I used to think I knew what I had to work towards--but when you're the only one doing the working-towards you tend to stop wanting to work on it. THAT's where I'm at now. Deciding on what to work on now. A good friend of mine is trying to get me to go to Atlanta for PA school (maybe DO the more I really think about it) and that's something I wouldn't have considered even a month ago.
Georgia. Why not? It's in Decatur which is 20 minutes from Atlanta. Atlanta has a lot to offer, not least my cousin and her wonderful family. That's an enticing reason in itself. I want Kentucky, and Kentucky wants me, but what I want in Kentucky has to want me.
If there is anything that a year removed from college has taught me it is to never assume the future. This job has been better than I could have ever imagined; I love, love, love, my co-researchers, I'm getting a 6-week paid working vacation in Bar Harbor, Maine on the same island as Acadia National Park, and Nashville has given me so much.
I'm ready to start letting the wave take me wherever it's headed; if I end up on the shores I wanted then fine--that's perfect, but if it's other shores for me, then fine--that's perfect.
The next two weeks will be seeing a good amount of lusting over the Felt Z100 (see above) that I'm almost certainly getting.
Oh, good heavens.
