Two years ago this week we came to Nashville on a look-see to find out if it would be a place we could live. Obviously that visit went well because we went home to California, sold the house, packed up and moved here. It has been a bumpy road at times and I have felt all the feelings one can feel about a move to what is essentially a foreign country when coming from politically correct California. But we’re here now so these changes, these differences I have to roll with or embrace with all I am and that makes me "Feel all the feelings." as my friend, Nicole likes to say. In our crowded suburb in California, a red tailed hawk was a rare thing. And if one happened to visit, it was accompanied by a flock of angry crows, cawing their dislike. Crow in California were not a rare thing. Neither were roof rats, pigeons, squirrels and assholes. Here in Nashville - where we live (as my friend Jen says) five minutes from a grocery store and ten minutes from downtown - not only are red tail hawks a daily sight while I’m out and about, we’ve got one living and hunting in our yard. Along with the coyotes, owls and deer who make our yard home, we are a veritable wild animal zoo. More often than not, we get to see a hawk or owl swoop down and grab a chipmunk or squirrel for dinner while we’re standing in the window cheering. In California, it was mostly pesky squirrels stealing tomatoes from our plants while we shook our fists at them and ran out to throw things at them. The deer that spend the night in the yard or wander through for breakfast and dine at my freshly planted trees still amuse me. Yesterday, Husband spotted three bucks eating whatever from the piles of brush I’ve yet to clean up at the bottom of the yard. He posted the picture on Facebook and it was very clear who lived in sunny California and got their meat at the grocery store and who lived in Tennessee and got their meat by hanging out in a hunting blind with a bow and arrow. In case it wasn’t clear, our friend Bob (totally not his real name) posted a picture of what parts of the deer go where. Husband looked up whether to see if Bob could actually hunt in our backyard and the answer is, yes. Yes you can hunt a deer in our backyard.
We are very much not in California anymore. You can also, by the way, pick up road kill and eat it. That is apparently an actual law on the books. And it’s very possible it’s still totally illegal for Husband and I to be married, with me being a ‘negroes, mulattoes, or persons of mixed blood, descended from a negro to the third generation’ and Husband being ‘white persons’ and therefore our ‘intermarriage…. inclusive of their living together as man and wife in this State is prohibited. The legislature shall enforce this section by appropriate legislation.’ So that’s awesomely terrifying. Also on the ballot right now is an amendment to ban abortions no matter the reason - even if the mother's health is at risk or the child is a product of rape or incest and the psychological fall out would be devastating. The fact that the majority of the folks with their signs telling us to vote yes on the ban also have signs up for politicians who want less government. They don’t seem to see that government watching wombs across the state is the total opposite of what they are preaching... So, yeah... there's that here in Tennessee. And let me tell you, I don't like any of the feelings that brings up. Anyway, Husband offered our decaying tree fort as a hunting blind for Bob, while has Bob offered to share the meat. I’m pretty sure I’m now a vegetarian. Well, as long as fried potatoes count as vegetables. If not, then I’m a cookie-tarian. And, I’m voting the government out of my womb - which, ironically, I don’t have anymore. Feeling all the feelings.
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AuthorMy name is ej. I'm a girl. I say that because with the short hair and the short initials, folks aren't always sure. More brilliant insights to who I am in About me Archives
April 2019
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