Last weekend marked our first year in Tennessee, so I thought I’d jot a few observations.

I love the hills that can be seen from almost any vantage point and the mountains seen in some places. I don’t think I have ever lived in a completely flat area, but this is the hilliest. That means, though, that very few pieces of property are completely flat, at least from what I have seen, and it’s interesting to watch people try to cut their grass at an angle. 🙂

(Photo courtesy of bean-stock.)

After we had been here a while I was jolted to realize this is the first time I have lived in a state without a coastline. Even though we didn’t get to the coast often in other states where we lived, I still missed having one. But for a landlocked state, TN has a lot of rivers, lakes, and creeks.

I thought it would be cooler and less humid here than in SC since we’re further north, but there doesn’t seem to be much difference.

I’m not a football fan and orange is my least favorite color, and here I am right in the middle of University of TN fandom. 🙂 So I don’t voice my lack of love for football or orange, not because people would assault me, but just out of respect. I do think it is neat how the whole area rallies around its team.

Our small town does much the same with the high school team. Where we lived previously, the powers that be closed down the small community high school and built a mega-school away from the main part of town, but here the high school is on the main street of town, and if you try to drive down that way on a game night, you have to watch out for people streaming over to the stadium. I like that even though I don’t go to the games.

We live outside of Knoxville proper, and I don’t think this happens there so much, but in our area I’ve been astounded at the number of men who do all manner of errands all over town without shirts on.

I love my house. I like its compactness and the way it is arranged. I’m still working on getting a few things up on walls and getting the sewing/craft room arranged.

I’m still getting used to driving longer distances to most everything except Jesse’s school.

Knoxville does seem more manageable, though, than some cities. When we lived outside of Atlanta, I was a nervous wreck if I had to drive into the city at all. It may just be the GPS that makes me feel more secure, but I don’t think getting lost in Knoxville would be quite the nightmare it would in some cities.

We enjoy our church a lot, but I still feel like I am getting to know people and I maybe don’t feel quite as settled and thoroughly at home, but that takes time — we were in our previous church twelve years, so I am not going to have that degree of settledness after just one year here. But it’s coming along.

The changes within our own family have been the hardest things to deal with, going from everyone being at home or close by to being scattered, but Skype and iPod Face Time help take the sting out of separation. The one thing that gives me the most pangs is Jesse’s transitions to a new school and the fact that he won’t graduate with the class he grew up with in SC. But he has adjusted well and made friends in his school and youth group, and there are great people at both.

Though transitions and change are hard, overall it has been a good year, and we like where we are.