Church Folk

Howard (hubby's code name) and I visited Nashville about 15 years ago.  He was interviewing for medical school at Vanderbilt.  He was accepted, but we decided to stay in San Diego and he went to med school at UCSD.  But, I digress.

So, when we were here way back when, I only remember a few things.  I remember driving down a main street lined with nothing but monstrous churches.  I also remember our trip to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky.  And, I remember the Relief Society (women's) meeting that I attended.  I can't remember where the building was or what the name of the branch/ward was, but I remember there were about six ladies there, one was the teacher and one was me, Eunice (my code name).  The five of us listeners were all spread out, far apart.  The feeling in the room was very icy and not too welcoming.  My worst-case scenario self panicked about possibly becoming a member of that branch/ward.

Fast forward, fifteen years later.  In June we came out for a quick trip to check out the area and to find a place to live.  We were surprised to find out that there were four church buildings and a small temple in the Nashville area.  The ward we visited was packed, there were even four or five rows of chairs set up in the cultural hall - with people in them!  We were really surprised when we ran into a couple of families who used to be in our Boston ward.  (Sing along with me:  It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all...)

Apparently Nissan attracted a lot of people to the area when they moved their corporate office to Nashville a few years ago.  Vanderbilt also attracts a lot of medical people.  Anyway, our new ward, the Old Hickory Ward, is much bigger than I ever imagined it would be.  (On Sunday someone mentioned that there are 450 members in our ward.)  However, there seem to be very few 'real' Tennesseans.  Most of the members are transplants and it seems like the majority of them have lived in California at one time or another. 

We were really surprised to learn that a lot of ward members live near us.  There's a new beta church website where you can see where your ward members live.  Click here to check it out.

Our house is neon green - in the picture, 
not in real life ;o)

Chick-fil-A

We ate at Chick-fil-A for the first time tonight.  We were pleasantly surprised to discover that they are not open on Sundays.  S. Truett Cathy, the man who started the chain in 1967, believes that his employees should be able to spend Sundays hanging out with family and/or expressing their faith.  Click here to read about some of Cathy's other ingredients for business success.  Look at the billboard above - he even encourages Family Night!

 Their ads are hysterical - lots of 
bovine bantering and poultry persecution.

Homeless and Jobless

For a couple of weeks all we had in our possession was one carry-on and one personal item each.  I'm always a worst-case scenario type of person.  When we were washing our limited wardrobe at the laundromat the other night, I said to hubby, "What if our clothes catch on fire in the dryer and all we have are the clothes on our backs?"  That kind of happened to me once in Mexico!  I had waffle underwear after that experience!  But, I digress.

It's a strange feeling to send off all your worldly possessions with a bunch of strangers - especially when one of them has a confederate flag tattooed on the back of his shaven head and a swastika on his forearm.  We also shipped our car.  The eagle-eyed gal who checked us in found dents we never knew we had. 

For two weeks we visited family in Idaho and Utah, taking one-way flights and renting cars along the way.  During those two weeks, we were homeless - couldn't legally claim an address.  That was a strange feeling to be off of almost everybody's radar - kind of nice and eerie at the same time.

I should clarify that I'm the only one who's jobless, by choice.  I feel fortunate that I have some time to reinvent myself.  I want to explore my artistic side.  Hubby will start his new job at Vanderbilt University in a couple of weeks.

We're happy to report that all of our stuff is here with us in Nashville now.  We got our car on Saturday and the rest of our stuff arrived yesterday.  Phew!

Church

Yesterday we went to our new ward - the Old Hickory Ward in the Nashville Stake.  It only took 25 minutes to get there!  The ward members were super friendly and we even got an invitation to Sunday dinner.  Several people told us they used to live in the Bay Area or that they had grown up in the Bay Area.   One family had actually been in the same ward that we just came from and we discovered that we had mutual friends.

During Relief Society a younger woman (W) came over to sit by me.  The conversation went something like this:
W:   I served a mission in San Diego.  You look familiar to me.
Me: When were you there?
W:  1999-2000
Me: We were in 13th Ward then.
W:   Bishop Miller?
Me: Yes.  What's your maiden name?
W:   Sister So-and-so.
(Pause)
Me:  Did you faint once in the middle of a talk?
W:   (blushing and laughing)  Yes, that was me!

This conversation happened right before she had to teach Relief Society!  I reminded her to NOT lock her knees.  

First Impressions

I kick myself for not having recorded my first impressions of Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and California (the Bay Area).  I'm not going to make the same mistake this time, although I'm already a week behind.  I'm pretty sure that living in Nashville is going to be quite an interesting experience.  Here are some of the things I've noticed so far:

It's hotter than cayenne pepper.

It's hilly and green.

It's hotter than a fox in a forest fire.

There are lots of American-made trucks - we might be joining the ranks soon.

There's lots of driving - nothing is conveniently close.

Everyone is super friendly and they don't mind chatting awhile - even when they're doing a job for you and you're paying them a fixed rate.

The 'man mullet' lives - saw two guys sporting it yesterday.

The $7.50 Saturday morning buffet at Shoney's attracts a LARGE group of people.

Many people in restaurants say a silent prayer before they eat.

There's a lot of clergy out and about.

There are LOTS of gargantuan churches - Nashville is supposed to be the belt buckle of the bible belt!

People get together at Panera on Wednesday evenings for Bible study.

Did I mention that it's HOT and HUMID!?!

There's a lot of thunder and lightning.

The roads are well-paved.

It's very clean.

The neighbors are friendly and not afraid to just come over and introduce themselves.

We have Hobby Lobby and Famous Dave's here - two places we frequented in Wisconsin.

Did I mention that it's hot!?!

Billy Ray sporting a man mullet.

I can't believe I got my blog name - woohoo!

I'll write more later.  Good start, right?