Tennessee Tuesday with Two Years

Welcome to my first Tennessee Tuesday...let me explain the title.

I grew up out west...my first 18 years in Southern Idaho and my next 11 in Western Colorado. Packing up my belongings and infant son(at the time) to drive all the way across the country to move to a state I had only visited once was very exciting...but very scary!

We have been here just a little over 2 years and this post is just some basic observations I have discovered living in my new state...Tennessee.


- Expect to be called, honey, sweetheart, sweetie, darlin' and m'am where ever you venture...this too means in the drive-thru at McDonalds

- Those honey's, sweethearts, sweeties, darlin's and m'ams will equally flow from the mouths of men and women...pretty much every human you come into contact will drop one of those names for you

- With some individuals...their accents are so strong I feel like I need a closed captioning machine I can point at them and it will spell out their words they are saying to me. I have become a little more accustom to the accents...but some of the true country folks I sometimes have to just nod and grin.

- There will be bugs. Lots. Of. Bugs. And not your little tiny gnats(well actually they live here too), but I am talking not your faint of heart bugs. Large. Thick. Creepy. Flying. Crawling. Hissing. Biting. Glowing. Quick. Bugs. I have learned to stock up on bug spray and fly swatters. I have learned to just accept that I will have to just share our property with loads of bugs.

- While we are talking bugs...lets transition into the arachnids that reside here. Can you say freakin' HUGE!!! GINORMOUS!!! And their creepy legs are thick which makes them even more frightening...you can hear them pitter across the tile...no kidding!!!

- But your enormous butterflies and your beautiful lightning bugs are a true gift from nature

- Every trip I take down our back country road...I will see either one or a few of the following: possums(dead or alive), snakes, squirrels, furry caterpillars, buzzards, bobcats, lizards, turtles, red cardinals, wild turkeys...it's like I am living in a zoo!

- Speaking about driving...what is with the on-ramps onto the interstate being so dang short!!! Many times vehicles are left driving on the side of the road over the bumpy things waiting to be able to merge over.

- Oh and I automatically just wave to every vehicle on the back roads now...every one waves!!!

- I am still yet to get used to the speed limit on the interstate of 70...I always grew up with it being posted as 75

- The springs are magnificent(sans the tornadoes)! Mornings and evenings are just the perfect temperature...perfect for meditation. I love smelling the honey suckles that surround our back deck...listening to the birds singing. I try to do this at least once a day to bring all of my thoughts together and to drown out the negative. I am at such peace at these moments...I can truly and literally feel how blessed I am.

- The summers...so hot & humid it literally takes your breath away. I also have very curly hair in the summer months!

- The winters are pretty mild as compared to Idaho and Colorado. I found myself missing actual powdery snow this past winter. The snow here is not snow...it is simply wet and soppy slush.

- I have yet to try a fried pickle! Everyone calls what ever flavor of soda a Coke. "What kind of Coke would you like?" The first time we ate out...I was a bit confused.

- Grown men do wear overalls...and I must say I like them!!! I asked the hubster if he would sport some for me when he gets a little big older :)

- College sports are taken very seriously here. Very seriously. Very.

Overall...I do love it here...it is so beautiful! People truly are friendly and more then most are glad to lend you a helping hand and will give you the shirt off of their back...even complete strangers.