Bonus Day with Gabby

Yesterday was supposed to be the last day of the insane schedule I put myself through. Turns out the universe is not quite ready to finish punishing me for over-committing myself.

Like the last dog-sitting stint, my friends are stuck in an airport far, far away.  This time at least I have nothing else planned so I’m able to hang out with sweet Gabby for another day without complications…well, I did have to order another dinner from door dash.

I was/am happy to help all my friends and I got so much from that conference, but I am exhausted.  

It’s not like the ridiculous pace stops once I’m home either. I literally have only one day on my calendar between now and the time I leave for Tennessee that does not have a happy hour, dinner, or activity planned. And I still need to pack.

All that being said though at least I’ll be in my bed tonight and for the next ten nights, then I’ll be in hers…or rather ours…and I can’t wait!

I admit to still being anxious about the move. Will I be able to adjust to small-town life in a very red state? I’m sad that Tennessee is worried that I won’t be happy there. I want to reassure her that I’ll be happy so long as we’re together, but I’m not sure I’m doing a very good job of that.

I have lived in a small town before, in Oklahoma, but that was a military town. By its very nature, it’s still pretty conservative. However, with the military comes the diversity and transience that airman or soldiers and their families bring which forces the outside world into its midst. The town doesn’t get to be insular. They can’t afford to be because local businesses depend on the goodwill of the military community.

Dunlap is not a military town and, according to my fiancé, until fairly recently it was a very traditional small southern town. Lately, however, there has been an influx of new blood as it is slowly becoming a bedroom community for Chattanooga. Hopefully, these new residents bring some cosmopolitan with them. Sadly though, those who move out past the suburbs do so typically because the city is too dangerous and they want to move to a safer place which usually reads as whiter and more conservative.

We’ll just have to wait and see because until I actually live there I won’t know if I can be happy living there. I do know that I am taking the right action, making the right effort, and doing the only thing that’s right for my life right now. I need to be with her. I don’t know that I’ve ever wanted anything more. Any decisions after that we’ll make together, whether we stay there, come back here, or scoop Mom up and find a new place altogether for the three of us.

Besides, the idiosyncrasies of small-town life might just be pure gold for blog entries and maybe even a book or two, so how can I not give it a chance? At the very least, I need to find out if that rooster has a name, if the Cookie Jar is going to re-open after the fire, and if Daizy, whose been missing for days, has been reunited with her family.

Be well, my friends.