Goodbye Nashville!

One evening just this past October I came home and found my Southern Accents Nov- Dec issue. This particular issue stood out a little more, and it was a little ironic that Nashville was one of the Southern destinations that was featured. While reading through the article, I recognized several of the places that were mentioned, and even a few of the restaurants were located in my very own neighborhood. The reason I say ironic is that the hubby and I had placed our 1930’s cottage house on the market Labor Day weekend – I know, perfect timing, right?! In August you may recall I was complaining about several things, and one of them was my neighbor Sandy’s Hackberry tree. Her tree arrived in our yard just in time for our first open house! Anyway, for two months the hubby and I played minutemen, with ready-to-conquer –“I’m going to sell this house” attitudes! The phone call we would get from our real estate agency was like trumpets blowing, and once we answered, up and off we went into full cleaning mode. The showings were very sporadic during the week and on the weekends. With each one, I would run home no matter where I was-- antique stores, hairdresser, work etc... I would even call the hubby and have him leave work too. Basically we would gather up the dogs, sweep, mop, turn on every light in the house, fluff the pillows, make sure the closets (especially mine) were neat & tidy, make sure fresh flowers were not dead, and clean the deck (don’t ever paint a deck white). I’ll talk more about the details later!

Anyway, the good news is the hubby and I closed on our house November 20th. It took us sixty-five days to get a contract where everyone, including the agents, was happy. The hubby and I did exactly what we set out to do when we bought the dilapidated house, and, given the state of the economy, we are very grateful, because in the end, all of our hard work paid off. Thinking back to the article, it had been a year since I started my blog and wrote about a few of the very same places it mentioned. All the restaurants and museums are wonderful, but what we’ll miss the most about Nashville is our old neighborhood—one gentleman compared it to Mayberry and I couldn’t agree more!

Our neighborhood is one where parents walk their children to school, oaks, hackberry, and magnolia trees line the streets. The houses date back to the late 1800’s, and even the few new ones are built to look like the old ones. But the most important part is that it is a neighborhood where it’s very easy to get to know you neighbors. Sandy—our bohemian transplant from San Francisco who studied for years and years at Stanford, Frank and Eula—our elderly retired neighbors who made me remember homemade peanut brittle and fudge again, Gary--our single fifty-something neighbor who still lives with his mother and always lent a hand (and lots of tools) to the hubby, Miss Judy—who walked by each evening this summer while we were sitting on our porch, and would always have to stop to dote on Rolle our Bassett hound so his head would get even bigger than it already is, Raymond—who always took off for his summer house in Florida when the first freeze would hit the Nashville air, and yes even the crazy Italian Lucilla!

Amazingly enough it had always been a dream of mine to own an old home in a Southern town and to have neighbors whom I enjoy spending time with and talking to.

Goodbye Nashville! We’ve enjoyed our journey.