Replacing the much lamented 'On My Mind' profile option, this thread is for musings, jottings, whimsies, preoccupations and the rest of the thesaurus for anyone to jot down anything they please.
I can't remember what the maximum character count was before, can anyone else? But anyway it wasn't very many so let's keep to that.
It’s better for your daughter to end the relationship now rather than get into a messy situation and suffer more hardship afterwards.
My daughter thought the last guy was “the one” that she would marry. Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be.
They were on two separate paths so to speak. She’s extremely ambitious and he was dragging his feet. It wasn’t going to work out for them.
My daughter was sad after she ended the relationship but she felt that it was for the best. She was working days. He worked nights.
He had no desire to finish college, which is incredibly sad. He’s a really smart guy. He was a med student that left the medical field and ended up being a sushi chef.
My daughter didn’t care about him leaving med school behind if he would have been happy as a chef.
He wasn’t happy and was always complaining about everything but didn’t want to explore other possibilities in his life. He wouldn’t go to therapy to discuss his feelings.
My daughter graduated years ago. They had different approaches on how to live life.
Need - 40 years for you. That's awesome too. You will miss your dd when she moves.
I will definitely miss her but she knows that I want her to be happy and choose her own path in life.
I have always taught her to be an independent woman and she has done exactly that.
Families don’t always live in the same area these days. When she lived in Colorado we spoke on the phone frequently.
The same thing when my oldest daughter lived in Alabama. We were in touch with each other on a regular basis.
It is tough when the kids are far . We miss them . My son lived in Wisconsin for years and came back just before Covid . We are happy that he’s only 35 minutes away now .
Would you consider moving from New Orleans? I know you are concerned about the crime . Where would you go ?
New Orleans will always be my home in my heart but I think I would move if my husband was willing to go somewhere.
Not sure where. Maybe, Denver to be near my daughter. Plus, Colorado is a beautiful state.
Not Florida, even though I love the beach. My dad grew up in Florida, so we went there every summer and loved the beach! I’m sick of evacuating for hurricanes so, Florida is out!
I adore the climate in California. The cost of living is so high there. Our family members who have moved to California will never return to Louisiana! We live in a swamp with humidity and mosquitoes!
New Orleans isn’t the same as when I was growing up. That’s for sure. It’s filled with crime now but it’s still a unique city that I do enjoy for the most part, precisely because it’s not “Anywhere USA.”
But in our dreams we would retire to Hawaii. Actually my kids said they would live there too if it was not so expensive . We fell in love with it so much on vacation that we went a second time . Hubby says he wants to go one more time when he retires , he’s calling it his retirement gift to himself. He saves a little money every month towards it . And he’s saving his airline miles from his work travels for free tickets .
Other than Hawaii , we would want to stay in the North East . We grew up on Long Island, NY , but it’s not the same as when we were kids .
Hawaii would be a beautiful place to live! Both of my nephews were married there. That’s another expensive place though.
My nephews married women who grew up in Hawaii.
Their original wedding plans fell apart when the venue closed in Pennsylvania . So my son decided that Vegas doesn’t close . And then it did , so they postponed the wedding a year to 2021.
Yep, that’s a good description. Both of my nephews have been married twice. One of my nephews, my godson, his first marriage was in a hotel in Vegas. Yep! Fun time!
I couldn’t live in Vegas either but it is fun to visit occasionally. We went on the way to the Grand Canyon. I think it was about a four hour drive from the Grand Canyon.
Flying to Vegas was cheaper and gas was cheap than so we decided to do both, Vegas first, rent a car and drive to the Canyon.
Although we have relatively small towns around, we are between Asheville NC (60 miles) and Knoxville (100 miles) - just down an interstate highway. Myrtle Beach, Charleston, Washington DC and Atlanta are all about 5 hours drive time away. I prefer to drive to Charlottesville and take Amtrak into DC; much easier to get out of town on a Friday afternoon.
Crime isn't a big deal unless you are involved in some way with drugs; mostly thefts from empty houses during working hours. We do have an occasional dispute between a couple of drunks or a divorcing couple that ends up with someone getting shot. On the other hand the two stranger/active shooter incidents within a hundred miles and over 20 years were both ended by an armed civilian with 2-3 total casualties.
I'm very biased. I have traveled the entire country and do not know of anywhere as lovely or generally safe and peaceful as East Tennessee. Our idea of "traffic" is cars traveling down the interstate at 70 mph with only 50-75 ft between them or waiting on a red light. I live beside pastures with multiple grocery stores, pharmacies, parks, and even walmart within a 8-12 minute drive. Plus I have lots of family around!
Sounds lovely.
I have visited the Smokey mountains (Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge) several times. The mountains are beautiful, especially in the fall.
We don’t have the beautiful autumn foliage here. The very first time I saw the red, gold and orange leaves, I told my husband that it looked like God took a paintbrush and painted the leaves magnificent colors!
We have been to Memphis a few times as well. That’s a totally different vibe. Great BBQ and music though.
You are in a great area to visit other places. I don’t know if I would acclimate easily to driving in the mountains. My husband does well driving in the mountains.
I was surprised how well my daughter acclimated to Colorado. She can’t wait to move back.
Did you grow up in the mountains? You learned how to drive in the mountains if you did. What about your children and nephews? Are they driving yet?
I have to admit that I am a horrible driving instructor! LOL 😆 I was a nervous wreck when they were learning to drive.
My girls preferred their dad showing them how to drive, plus we signed them up for driver’s education classes.
I wanted to visit Myrtle beach , hubby doesn’t like the alligator problem they have there. I’d also like to go to the outer banks in North Carolina , I have a friend that goes nearly every year .
As a kid I used to think the drive took forever but come to find out when I map quested it that it was only a 4 hour drive. 4 hours in kid time was like a million hours.
Wildwood is not the same as it was in the eighties from the pics I see online now. I loved all the kitchy hotels they had back then. Great times.
Random thought , I miss Dairy Barn too . A drive through for milk , bread , eggs etc . Was great if I had a sick kid and DH was away for work . Just drive through with a sleeping kid in the car seat . But now can always have food delivered . They had the best ice cream sandwiches .
So I learned to drive and the kids (some of the kids are in their 40s now) did too in the TN hills. We have a few laughs about the snow weather transplants that run their mouth about us turning out or delaying the start of school because of a "little inch of snow" when they learn our "wet" snow on a surface that changes elevation and direction frequently is a different challenge than driving on 8 inches of powder on a flat surface. My favorite is the guy that planned to stop at the end of his driveway and slid across the street, ended up in a culvert in about 1/4 inch of our typical snow/ice mix.
BTW: Memphis is a different place than Johnson City; no mountains (just Mississippi delta flat land) and a Democratic party run big city with most of the problems that come with that. JC has more diversity in cuisine but not as much great barbecue and fresh seafood. We've had a lot of immigrant families settle here over the years and have some good Asian restuarants in addition to most of the chain places. The family favorites are a Mexican, a Japanese, and a Chinese restuarant; mostly home food is mostly cooked at home...
Sounds like you have great memories!
It’s funny that you mentioned a studio apartment.
One of the happiest times in my youth was when I was living in a studio apartment.
I wanted a change, a fresh start in a new place. I decided that I didn’t want to have to rely on a roommate in a larger apartment.
So, I rented a one room/kitchen/bathroom attic apartment, completely furnished in beautiful antiques.
I adored the deep claw foot tub! My apartment was on top of a fairly large home so it was a decent sized attic.
Cat,
I know right! I truly hope this is a relatively calm hurricane season for us.
Fortunately we are good at evacs. Accommodation has been arranged here and in the town up the river where the boats will dock. Even pets will be cared for as much as possible. However I know it is hard leaving your home. I pray that they contain the fire so that the town isn't burnt down. It is of historical and cultural importance and started as a trading post in 1788 and it is for some the only homes they have ever known.
My heart goes out to them.