My main goal for the past year, or at least the one thing I have looked forward to doing for the past year, is getting back down to Nashville. This city has held an appeal for me since my high school years, long before my family ever considered moving down there. I have lived in 4 states in the south and central areas of the US: Louisiana, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee. I have never entertained the idea of moving to Louisiana (too far away, and the lizards, snakes and bugs are monstrous down there) even though some of my happiest memories are from here. I've never really wanted to move back to MO. More tornadoes happened there than anywhere else I've lived. Once we moved to Kentucky and I entered high school, I seriously started thinking of the different places I would want to live after I was done with school. I knew I wanted to stay in the south. I am a southern girl through and through. I love it when guys are gentlemen and hold doors open for me, or let me walk through first, or pull chairs out for me. I love it will when people say excuse me or thank you, or who are simply courteous and kind. And for the longest time I've been under the impression that this behavior is almost non-existent in the North. I need to be in a place where people are genuinely hospitable.
I've never wanted to live in Kentucky, mainly because in the back of my mind I keep visualizing the negative stereotypes of Kentuckians. This state has never had an appeal for me. Tennessee, however, has always had an appeal. My grandparents are down there, as are most of my more distant relatives. My most immediate family are also down there, with the exception of my sisters. I have always thought, or dreamed, that by moving down to Nashville, I would be living in a southern city that has class, where there are plenty of places to call home, close enough to the city to be metropolitan, but far enough away to be rural if I wanted. Truth be told, I have also always wanted to live there because it is a big enough area that I would have my own friends. For as long as I can remember, I have followed my sister everywhere. Of course, most of the places to which I followed her were mandatory due to my father's transfers. When it came time to go to college, I went where my sister did, mainly because that school offered me the best deal (although, thinking back, I should have gone to Western). But throughout my college years, I never once went somewhere, or made friends with people who hadn't first been friends with my sister. I know it's silly to say this, but I have never felt that any place has been solely my own. The friends I have now were all friends with Rachel first. And that's fine, but I'm beginning to get a bit exhausted from it. No one would ever say it to my face, but I'm fairly certain that if Rachel weren't here, no one would have become my friend as quickly as they did, no one would invite me to parties, or think to call me when there's a game night going on. They call me as a second thought, because I'm Rachel's sister.
It's high time I went somewhere else, some place where I'm known solely as Rebecca. I've always felt that I can do this at Nashville. But everytime I get down there, something pulls me back to Kentucky. I moved down after my graduation from high school, then had to go back up for college. I moved down after graduating from college, then moved back up because I found an internship. And now I'm stuck in Lexington b/c this is currently the only place I have a paying, tho it is part time, job. I want to get back down to Nashville, but my parents don't want me to move because I'm getting paid up here, and I wouldn't be if I moved back. But I know that I could find internships if I looked, and let's face it, with the economy the way it is, internships are the best I can hope for right now. So how do I get back to Nashville? I can see my parents' reasoning, I understand it, it makes sense. But at the same time, my heart is telling me that I'm 22, I need to make decisions for myself. I know there is no future for me in Kentucky. Would it be so foolish to just pick up and move, and leave my job, which isn't so bad, and just barely covers my monthly expenses? Would it be so bad to do what I want?
Princess Booka
I've never wanted to live in Kentucky, mainly because in the back of my mind I keep visualizing the negative stereotypes of Kentuckians. This state has never had an appeal for me. Tennessee, however, has always had an appeal. My grandparents are down there, as are most of my more distant relatives. My most immediate family are also down there, with the exception of my sisters. I have always thought, or dreamed, that by moving down to Nashville, I would be living in a southern city that has class, where there are plenty of places to call home, close enough to the city to be metropolitan, but far enough away to be rural if I wanted. Truth be told, I have also always wanted to live there because it is a big enough area that I would have my own friends. For as long as I can remember, I have followed my sister everywhere. Of course, most of the places to which I followed her were mandatory due to my father's transfers. When it came time to go to college, I went where my sister did, mainly because that school offered me the best deal (although, thinking back, I should have gone to Western). But throughout my college years, I never once went somewhere, or made friends with people who hadn't first been friends with my sister. I know it's silly to say this, but I have never felt that any place has been solely my own. The friends I have now were all friends with Rachel first. And that's fine, but I'm beginning to get a bit exhausted from it. No one would ever say it to my face, but I'm fairly certain that if Rachel weren't here, no one would have become my friend as quickly as they did, no one would invite me to parties, or think to call me when there's a game night going on. They call me as a second thought, because I'm Rachel's sister.
It's high time I went somewhere else, some place where I'm known solely as Rebecca. I've always felt that I can do this at Nashville. But everytime I get down there, something pulls me back to Kentucky. I moved down after my graduation from high school, then had to go back up for college. I moved down after graduating from college, then moved back up because I found an internship. And now I'm stuck in Lexington b/c this is currently the only place I have a paying, tho it is part time, job. I want to get back down to Nashville, but my parents don't want me to move because I'm getting paid up here, and I wouldn't be if I moved back. But I know that I could find internships if I looked, and let's face it, with the economy the way it is, internships are the best I can hope for right now. So how do I get back to Nashville? I can see my parents' reasoning, I understand it, it makes sense. But at the same time, my heart is telling me that I'm 22, I need to make decisions for myself. I know there is no future for me in Kentucky. Would it be so foolish to just pick up and move, and leave my job, which isn't so bad, and just barely covers my monthly expenses? Would it be so bad to do what I want?
Princess Booka