Home is where the heart is...

3817 Whitland Ave was the worst thing that could have happened to me, or so I thought when I was 12 years old. We moved from our house on sedberry road, the only place that I had ever lived. Leaving behind the bedroom that I slept with the overhead light on because I was afraid of the dark much to my friends dismay, the front yard that on any given summer day you could find the neighborhood kids playing on the slip-in-slide or with the badminton net, the kitchen floor that I would fall asleep on while waiting for my mom to cook dinner, the backyard cabin that my dad and granddad assembled for my brother and I for Christmas, and the drive way where I learned to ride a bike in { the same day as my older brother did, might I add} to a 12 year old moving, even though it was only 10 minutes away was devastating. A framed picture of my old house hung in my new bedroom for years.

Little did I know that I would fall in love with 3817 Whitland Ave and it would become the house that everyone hung out at, I think that it part was because I had cool parents, now don't misinterpret that for parents who let us drink or have boys over, because that is not Mary and Steve. But my mom always greeted us with a smile and a fresh plate of cookies, and my dad with his humor and foul language. It didn't hurt that we had a finished basement where on any given weekend you could find girls sleeping on mattresses and the futon in the basement. It felt like Elizabeth, Sarah, and I owned that street, and during the summers we did.

CC, Poppy, & Stucky { Elizabeth, Sarah, & I all grown up}

I tell this story quite frequently because i think it's so funny. Will's first day of college a girl sitting next to him in class asked him "where he summers". Being the quick witted guy he is, will swiftly responded with " the same place I winter, spring, and fall" for those who didn't know, Will went to a very prestigious, small school in Connecticut where it was common practice to "summer" somewhere else.

I never really understood the phrase home is where the heart is, until I went away to college. Surrounded by Northerners I become very proud to call myself a Southerner and to let everyone know that I was from Nashville, Music City USA. Now as my family is scattered I have several homes. Nashville, Dallas, Knoxville, etc. so if someone were to ask me where I summer, I can give them a mouth full!

"Lord I guess I went and broke their family tradition"...

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I lovee traditions old and new. I will be the first to say " we have to do it, it's tradition." Maybe it's because I'm the youngest that I am so nostalgic for traditions. And when I say youngest, I don't just mean in my immediate family I mean in the entire extended, family on both sides.

Will & me on Christmas morning

some of the Hines family at Calloway Gardens

As the years have gone on our traditions have changed. I have learned that it's not the tradition itself that was always so important to me, but the people that I shared it with and the new people who we have shared our traditions with. We adapt to include those that we love and begin to start new traditions.

There are some traditions however, that will never stop: Sticky buns for breakfast on Christmas morning, Christmas Eve at the Conrads, Calloway Garden Christmas lights, homemade gifts, Whitland 4th of July.

Birthdays, they're like your own personal holiday, or at least I like to think so. Call me on my birthday and my response will be "birthday girl speaking" I have defiantly had some memorable birthdays in my time: petting zoo and poney rides in our front yard, Vandy cheerleaders teaching us cheers, bowling birthday parties where i insisted on wearing my bright yellow "hadley" shirt even though my gut hung out making me look more like homer Simpson than a 12 year old girl.

Birthday girl turns 21

More recently my 18th birthday with Officer Buck Naked, my 21st birthday where one mud slide got me up on a chair clapping and dancing to happy birthday, while Nathan stood behind me just waiting for my silver heels to slide out form under me. As I get older it's the people I get to spend my birthday with that are the best gifts. For my 21st Tanner and my mom surprised me with a visit, last year Will, Kristin, & my dad and this past year I got my daddy again. this year my roommates, Katie & Lisa added a little bit of color to my birthday and Lis left a lasting impression, shooting me right in the middle of the forehead with her nerf gun. I guess it goes back to the whole Her Royal Highness thing, I love to be the center of attention! Equally as much as my own birthday i love celebrating friends and families birthdays!

“The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.” Lucille Ball