Tennessee

I figured that I should write up a short blurb on the Volunteer state in honor of my recent business trip to Knoxville. Ironically, I’ve never really lived in Tennessee, though it is where Rachel answered that long awaited question, “Will you marry me?” It was March of 2000, spring break. Rachel and I were driving to Sedalia, Missouri and Omaha, Nebraska to visit our relatives over the long break from classes. I was about a year out from graduating from college and I had always planned on popping the question early enough to have at least a year-long engagement and the time was ripe. I had made secret arrangements with some very close friends and Rachel was asleep as we neared the Tennesse border, heading north on I-75. I placed a call to “my mom”, which was really a call to my friends to wake up and get ready. As we approached the Nickajack Lake rest area, a very nice respite for weary travellers situated on an island in Lake Nickajack, just west of Chattanooga, my heart started to race. I pulled over onto the exit ramp, waking up the angel in the passenger seat. This should have been a cue to her, because I rarely needed to stop to use the restroom. Normally, my bladder is really dictated by the gas tank and both “lights” usually go off around the same time. Rachel went in to use the restroom as well and I quickly returned to the car to make sure I had the ring and I was willing to use it. I glanced down at a covered picnic table and my friends were there, waiting. Rachel came out of the facility and I thought it would be nice to take a walk. Well, one thing led to another, and after a china/crystal breakfast surprise on the shores of Nickajack, served by my great college buddies, I dropped to one knee and proposed. That was almost 8 years ago and I can say that I am forever indebted to the state of TN for providing the setting of an event I will never forget.Other memories of Tennessee include trips to Opryland with a group from high school, a really fun weekend getaway to Gatlinburg with some friends from Pensacola, driving in the rain with my family through the mountains of I-24 and the Peabody ducks in Memphis. Tennessee is really a neat state with an awesome history and identity.