They say separation makes the heart grow fonder so let me start by confirming that theory as fact as it is great to be back writing this column after a couple months off.

During that small hiatus, I moved back South from Illinois, just not as west as when I was in Port Lavaca and the great state of Texas and I now find myself living in the city of Knoxville in the good state of Tennessee.

It’s part of Appalachian territory technically and I’m right near the Smokie Mountains as well so it has been a different experience than other locations I’ve lived, as so far, everything is up a hill or down a hill and the roads in parts look like something you’d see in a cross country car race, with twists and turns like you’ve never seen.

I’m also living in a trailer that has a patch of forest behind it, so other adjustments have been listening to the new sounds nature has brought to my porch and my ears, from the car alarm like drone of the cicadas to what had to be a coyote.

All in all, it’s nice to get out and see a bit more of this great country of ours and interestingly enough this is as far east as I’ve ever gone, and because this is an area dominated by those aforementioned hills and mountains, it’s also quite beautiful at times.

It also of course has its issues…

If you’re used to flat land, those hills and mountains can feel a bit much when you’re carrying a bag of heavy trash up a steep incline to the dumpster.

Any time you’re so close to nature that you can hear it as I described above, it also means you get to be involved with nature in other ways as well, such as the ant colony that has decided that this trailer would also make a nice home for them as well, or at the very least a canteen line.

To say nothing of the carpenter bees, which loved digging into the railings on the deck but so far have refused the charms of my forty dollar plus carpenter bee trap.

Of course these are the joys of living anywhere in any state; there will always be little details that are less than perfect but it is how we adapt to them and take on those challenges and changes that really show us who we are in a way.

So in the end what do I want to find here in this new place?

Hopefully it is a home, be it brief or for a long period of time, although no other area will ever take the place of the Chicagoland area, hopefully in Tennessee, much like Texas, I can find another place that I also think of just as fondly, if not call home.