"If we were meant to stay in one place, we'd have roots instead of feet." ~ Rachel Wolchin
Happy Anniversary to us! As I write this, it is Sunday, July 2. Exactly ten years ago on this day Caston and I left Nashville in a U-Haul and our car, along with our two pups headed south to Mississippi.
How is it possible that ten years have passed? It seems not that long ago. I look back on all the things that have transpired in those ten years. There was no way we could have ever predicted all the many gifts and blessings that would unfold.
We came here to be with my mother who was 83 at the time. She is no longer here. Our time with her was the most precious gift of all. Since her passing in 2018, we’ve also both lost a sister each, five uncles (three for him, two for me), an aunt (him), six cousins (two for me, four for him) and our pup, Lulu.
However, we’ve also enjoyed countless happy and fulfilling experiences. Life is always a mixture of happiness and sadness. While we’ve certainly had sad moments, the happy times continue in abundance.
To date, I have illustrated and/or designed forty-four books for other authors and have written and illustrated two of my own. I have others coming soon along with The Red Chair.
Besides all that, I worked for almost two years at a small parachute factory. I worked part-time at a local graphic design company. For a couple of years, I catered events for different organizations or people around town. I designed prints and cards for another local business and taught collage art classes. I even did a little art therapy at one of the local nursing homes.
Caston has also enjoyed an abundance of experiences. For six years he fulfilled his dream of having a morning radio show and worked as Operations Manager for six small stations in the area. This meant he did remotes at all the festivals and events and got to be friends with other media people in the area.
I have reconnected with family and friends, and we’ve both made new friends. Wiggles and Spartacus joined our family. We have a beautiful granddaughter, Eloise. We were confirmed in the Episcopal faith, which means so much to us. I share this to remind myself and you that life will always bring you opportunities and gifts. We just need to be watching!
No doubt, more experiences are to come. This is what makes life exciting to me. I went back to my old blog, ‘Swinging on the Moon’ and read the entry from May 3, 2013. We were preparing to move to Mississippi. I thought it would be neat to share it again here so you can see what I was thinking and feeling then as to where I am right now. I’d have to say about the same mindset. Excited, scared, hopeful.
A great reason to eat some great food and celebrate the fourth of July for sure! Here’s to the next ten!
NOTE: Reposted from ‘Swinging on the Moon’ blog – THCountzWrites old blog:
I remember the day I first rolled into Nashville. It was a scorching summer day, July 2, 1987. I was married barely two months to my first husband, Danny, and between the two of us, we had everything we owned packed into my 1980 Cutlass Supreme and his 1975 Chevy truck. I thought I had really moved to the big city. Coming from a small town in southeast MS, it was a big city. Looking back 26 years later I realize how small Nashville really was at the time.
I had never really lived far away from home and family, and I really can’t say how I decided this was something we should do in a ten-minute conversation with my oldest sister who had been living in Nashville since the early 80s. She had been estranged from our family for ten years and I think at the time I thought I was doing her a favor by moving family closer to her. Truth was I was desperate to get out of Mississippi and see something of the world. Granted it was only five hundred miles from my old world but trust me, for a naive twenty-one-year-old kid, this was major stuff!
I spent the next 26 years growing up, falling down and finally finding myself. I had some tough situations to live through, but I was never unhappy with my geographic location. Nashville is a special place. Most people think it’s all honky tonks, country music and cowboy boots. Truth is it’s so much more than that. It’s vibrant, passionate and full of artistic souls pursuing their dream, whatever that might be. There is a feel that permeates your soul as an artist, and you can always find inspiration just around the corner or sitting across from you at your local coffee hang-out. Rarely have I ever been bored living here and daily I am inspired.
I had dreams of being a singer/songwriter. I was lucky enough to record two albums and sing around town. I’m not famous and never will be but I have experienced the thrill of having a crowd of people listen to your words and music. There is a great songwriter inside waiting to get out but for now what I’ve accomplished is enough.
I found my wings as an artist in Nashville, and I’ve been fortunate to illustrate one published children’s book with a second in process and two or three others waiting in line. This is something I will carry with me to MS and beyond. Art is in my blood, and I will never deny its existence again.
During the many difficulties of growing up I managed to meet and fall in love with my life partner. He is everything I never knew I needed and more. Thanks to his love and support, he makes this journey with me. That’s a lot for a guy to put up with. Not only does he put up with me 24/7 along with my neurotic tendencies but now he has embraced living with my 83-year-old mother as well. This folks is what I call TRUE LOVE or a bad case of indigestion.
My mother has always been a key figure in my life. I did not realize that not everyone had the kind of loving relationship I have with her. I thought it was something everyone experienced. Sadly, I am in a minority, and I truly do not take that for granted. It’s out of my love and desire to spend time with her in these golden years of her life that prompts me and my husband, along with her two dogs and library of books, music, and art to leave the comfort of our beloved Music City and move to southeast Mississippi. Tears have been shed and I suspect in the next few weeks many more will fall.
I know the journey is not going to be easy. We leave behind more friends than I can count. Our wonderful East Nashville community has truly been home for us both. I say so long to Jerry’s Art-A-Rama (none in MS or LA – I’ve checked!), Ugly Mugs (favorite coffee house), The Frist, Shelby Bottoms Greenway, The Silly Goose, Mitchell’s Deli, Las Maracas, our church family at St. Andrew Christian Church, our old church family at Eastwood Christian Church….the list goes on and on. However, I know that we are making the right move. I will grow even closer to my mother and family. We will make new friends. We will take new adventures exploring New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. We will grow. Scary? Hell yes!
Laissez les bons temps rouler!
You are the very picture of someone who knocks on doors of opportunity and walks right on in.
Kaleidescope!
ten years have flown by so fast! You are so blessed!