Christmas Caroling...Day 3

"Tennessee Christmas" by Amy Grant.  I'm sure you're JUST shocked!  *Waving cinnamon scented pine cones to revive you*  First...LOVE Amy Grant and have for years.  Discovered her music when I was in high school and she was always my go to choice when I had to have something to offer as special music in church.  Her songs seemed to be some of the very few that were in my alto range.  That was well before multi-track CDs that have high, medium and low range versions!  Her music reminds me of a conversation with a good friend...a friend that loves you through the highs and lows...the beauty and the ugly...the joy and pain...no matter what, that friend is there. 

Second, there is my love for the State of Tennessee...particularly, the eastern portion.  The first time I spent any significant amount of time in Tennessee was the summer of 1989.  I'd graduated from high school and went to visit Mr. Snark.  He was on leave from the Navy and we hadn't seen each other since the previous October.  I'll never forget walking into the terminal and looking for him.  He had on a St. Louis Cardinals t-shirt and blue jeans...faded, with a hole in one of the knees.  He had one of his legs thrown over the arm of the chair...like he was sitting at home, not in the middle of the Knoxville airport.  He.  was.  TAN!!!!  Not terribly strange since he and his shipmates had spent the winter months "cruising" the Mediterranean.  Mercy...that was a whole lot of gorgeous and he was sitting there...waiting on me---------------->lucky girl!!!  Oh...so...right!  Back to Tennessee!

While falling even more head over heels for Mr. Snark, I fell in love with his home state.  Mama's side is from Arkansas...Daddy's side is from South Carolina, so as far as I know there's no familial root in them thar hills, but my heart found a home.  The mountains with their blanketing mist made me feel like I'd finally returned home after a long journey, which is very strange since I'd never been there.  He drove me here and there.  He showed me places that were significant to him.  On a visit in 1990, after our engagement, he introduced me to some of the extended family....Uncle Wayne and Aunt Rena and all of us went on a picnic in "the Park."  "The Park" is actually home for the paternal side of Mr. Snark's family.  Sections of what is now The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, used to be family home places.  Learned how to rock hop on that picnic...simply going from rock to rock to work your way down or across the creek.  Had butterflies dance on my toes while sitting at the creek.  Learned that Aunt Rena was famous for saying, "Well, we ain't got much, but we'll make do" and Aunt Rena's "making do" was always close to a feast fit for a king.  Also learned about the goodness that comes out of mountain folks..."Tell that gal of yours she can eat...you ain't a-payin' for this!"  Another important lesson from that picnic, if you see a baby bear, go the other way!  Mama won't be far behind and you really don't want any of that!  Oh...and they are "bars" not "bairs."  That's mountain-speak and to my ears, to my soul, it's the sweetest music. 

Tennessee stole a huge piece of my heart.  We haven't lived there since 1996.  Nothing's changed, though.  No matter where we've lived...TinyMountainTown, GA....SMALLtown, GA....RollingHills, GA....and now in the Bamaham of WayDownSouth....we get back to East Tennessee and I am immediately at home.  Maybe that's why I love this song...it says just that...there are other places to go; other places to live and they are great places....but there's no place like home.

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