It’s all about comfortable/When you move so much

Posted on by Carla Jean Whitley

Song of the day for y’all… this reminds me of where I am and where I’ve been on so many different levels.

I don’t want to leave here
I don’t want to stay
It feels like pinching to me
Either way
And the places I long for the most
Are the places where I’ve been
They are calling out to me
Like a long lost friend

It’s not about losing faith
It’s not about trust
It’s all about comfortable
When you move so much
And the place I was wasn’t perfect
But I had found a way to live
And it wasn’t milk or honey
But then neither is this

I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt
Leaving out what it lacks
And the future feels so hard
And I want to go back
But the places they used to fit me
Cannot hold the things I’ve learned
Those roads were closed off to me
While my back was turned

The past is so tangible
I know it by heart
Familiar things are never easy
To discard
I was dying for some freedom
But now I hesitate to go
I am caught between the Promise
And the things I know

If it comes too quick
I may not appreciate it
Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?
And if it comes too quick
I may not recognise it
Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?
–Sara Groves

On the road again

Posted on by Carla Jean Whitley

From Geof, who got it from someone else:

Bold = been to
Italics = lived in

1) Alabama, 2) Alaska, 3) Arizona, 4) Arkansas, 5) California, 6) Colorado, 7) Connecticut, Delaware, 9) Florida, 10) Georgia, 11) Hawaii, 12) Idaho, 13) Illinois, 14) Indiana, 15) Iowa, 16) Kansas, 17) Kentucky, 18) Louisiana, 19) Maine, 20) Maryland, 21) Massachusetts, 22) Michigan, 23) Minnesota, 24) Mississippi, 25) Missouri, 26) Montana, 27) Nebraska, 28) Nevada, 29) New Hampshire, 30) New Jersey, 31) New Mexico, 32) New York, 33) North Carolina, 34) North Dakota, 35) Ohio, 36) Oklahoma, 37) Oregon, 38) Pennsylvania, 39) Rhode Island, 40) South Carolina, 41) South Dakota, 42) Tennessee, 43) Texas, 44) Utah, 45) Vermont, 46) Virginia, 47) Washington, 48) West Virginia, 49) Wisconsin, 50) Wyoming, and 51) Washington, DC.

Now, if you’re the sort that counts airports, add Kentucky and Missouri to my list. But I don’t think they should be included.

(Hey – another fun list could be how many airports I’ve visited. 🙂 Nashville’s the only one that I’ve been to that I haven’t flown into or out of.)

Rocky Top, Tennessee

Posted on by Carla Jean Whitley

I’m leaving for Nashville tomorrow afternoon. I guess it just sank in that I’m going, because suddenly I’m wide awake and so excited that I can’t do anything productive. 🙂 I’ve planned most of my wardrobe and I’m washing my jeans now. I emailed in one of my papers, and I’ll drop the other off on my way out of town. Somewhere in all of this, I inspired my friend Apryl to join me in my road trip. 🙂 She’ll be leaving Tallahassee by 9 a.m. Eastern, Tuscaloosa bound. She should arrive here by lunchtime, and by three or four we’ll be headed north. It’s going to be an interesting weekend. 🙂 (I’m going to the Grand Ole Opry! I am SO excited I can hardly stand it!) I promise y’all an update with some substance sometime in the next week. In the meantime, I’m northbound 65!

And it’s you I see but you don’t see me

Posted on by Carla Jean Whitley

Mmmm. It’s been ages since I’ve spent a weekend alone. Chris Martin is crooning at me from my television set as the rest of the band provides background. A bottle of my favorite “low carb light beer” is perched atop my history notebook – an able coaster while I pause from this paper. (Lest you think me an alkie, it’s one drink. Any more than that when I’m alone leaves me worrying about myself. 😉 ) The aforementioned notebook is kept company by a host of library books. A stack of some 50-odd magazine and newspaper articles will soon join the party. My apartment is hoppin’ tonight. 😉

Though this weekend promises to be slow, I think sometimes sacrificing a good time in favor of something else is worthwhile. For one, it’s not often that I have the apartment to myself at night. I don’t miss it, really, but I feel that I should take advantage anyway. A little CJ time never hurt anybody!

More importantly, my intent is to invest my weekend in schoolwork. Yeah, I’m a stick in the mud. But besides authoring a brilliant paper that will examine the characteristics of journalists at the turn of the 20th century, I’m freeing myself up for the next week.

On Tuesday evening, I’ll arrive in Jacksonville, Florida. This will be my first trip home in four months. I’d say it’s about dang time! Until now, I’ve never missed Jacksonville. When I moved away in August of ’99, I never looked back. Then, my only regret was that I was still in state. Now, I’m counting the days till I head back. Bring on that “wretched little town”! 😉

I’ve grown quite a bit in the past four months. I was reflecting on this earlier today, and realized that I could probably utter those words after any given four month period and they’d be just as true. Still, this is a natural time for reflection. I’m not the same girl today as I was the last time I was in Jacksonville – nor do I think I’ll be the girl I am now on my next visit.

Growth is a beautiful thing. (And on that note… back to the history paper.)