March: TN/NC

A friend recently brought to my attention that I've neglected this blog in the past few months. I can't say I'm too upset about that, though, because it's directly linked to my comparative success in writing professionally. The more I get paid to write, the less time I have for unpaid writing... But I do want to maintain this personal outlet, so I'm recommitting to posting more updates from my daily life!

For now, I'll share the highlight of my month so far: celebrating UNC's win against Duke in Chapel Hill! Being back home in NC with friends and family inspired me to make plans to spend my upcoming birthday in NC as well. I don't want to move there, but I sure do love to visit.

Top 10 Ways I Could Have Died On The AT (But Didn't!)

Ranked in descending order of how much each idea scared me while on the AT:

1. starvation as a result of being unable to call for help due to full-body paralysis caused by a broken back/neck via falling tree or tree limb during the night
2. randomly murdered by another person, probably with a knife or machete
3. skull crushed by falling tree
4. mauled by a bear
5. bitten by a poisonous snake (this is the option that I came closest to actually experiencing, as evidenced by photo below)
6. struck by freak lightning storm
7. anaphylactic shock induced by swarm of stinging yellowjackets/bees/wasps
8. swept away/drowned in flash flood
9. slip/fall/hit head on rock OR bleeding out from broken leg
10. falling off a cliff or into a ravine

But none of that happened, hooray!!!

AT Intro

Having crossed the North Carolina-Tennessee border exactly ten times since deciding to move to Nashville this past February, it seems completely appropriate to me that I should spend the next two weeks hiking the 224-mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail along this shared border. The line divides my two home states: one in which I was born and spent my first three years, one in which I grew up in the twenty years following. The former where I now claim residence, the latter where my mind will always go when I hear the word “home.” Maybe, after my upcoming year of living in Nashville, Tennessee will begin to hold feelings of home. Starting tomorrow and for the next two weeks, I’ll walk that line quite literally. I’ll walk it figuratively in the next twelve months — and maybe longer; my 12-month lease is, terrifyingly, the only plan I have for my immediate or long-term future.

So here’s to the land of the long-leaf pine, and here’s to the Volunteer State. Here’s to being born in a city sought by dreamers, and for having the chance to return as a young adult overwhelmed by the infinite possibilities of young adulthood. Here’s to a lost Tar Heel finding my beat in Music City — to all the steps I’ve planned, and the unknown steps I’ll take after.