A Very Important Discovery

Two months. Apparently that’s the amount of time it takes to move to a new city, settle in, and for it to begin to resemble something like home. Of course, with the knowledge that we’re very likely to leave 10 months from now it’s hard to settle too much. But we’re not about to let our time in Nashville be purely transitional. Instead we’ve dived in, and are throughly enjoying our time here.

We’ve established our places, where to get groceries (whole foods/farmers market), a tailor (stitch it), hair cuts (parlour and juke), a good butcher (porter road), and most importantly where to get excellent tacos (carniceria don juan). We’ve made friends, and spend time with them regularly (even if for Alex that means mostly in the hospital). We can generally drive around and not get lost. Things are slowly, slowly coming together. And while it does seem a bit like practice for when we end up in our next, more permanent destination, it does feel very good to have put down some sort of roots.

I’ve felt recently like the one thing really missing from my life is a group of friends near by. Yes, we have friends scattered all around the world. I love them, and feel lucky to have them in my life, but there’s no substitute for local friends. And they’re so, so important to have. I used to think I wasn’t the sort of woman who would have many girlfriends. That was wrong, I was just insecure about how much trouble I had meeting and then subsequently maintaining female friendships. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that those friendships are absolutely key in life happiness. And that doing the work to gain and keep them isn’t just worth it, it’s absolutely essential. I don’t know where I’d be psychologically without my girlfriends, but I know it would be worse off. And so I knew, no matter where I was, how important it would be to forge friendships with other women, and I’m so thankful I’ve found a few I’ve really clicked with. Smart, strong, ambitious, kind. The sort of people that you know will make you better for knowing them.

So while Alex’s hours are still tough, and being in the south still feels weirdly foreign, life is settling and taking root. And I’m very excited for what the rest of the year holds. And have full intentions of making our limited time here well worth while.