Of all the states I’ve loved before…

I was thinking today of the 4 places that Ernie and I have lived since we’ve been married. Last night when I was scouring my picture files, looking for pictures of my kids and their blankets (so sorry Nigel, that I couldn’t find one of you actually holding your blanket!) it took me down memory lane… from house to house to house to house and it brought back so many memories. First off, I know that this is seriously cliché- but I look so young in Little Ernie’s baby pictures! It really borders on ridiculous. I mean, was I 12 when I had him? I actually thought that I was aging well, until I saw the pictures of my face from 10 years ago, with my skin looking super tight and unlined. I’m only 33 and now I’m convinced that Ernie (who hasn’t seemed to age much at all) and I are going to end up looking like John Edwards and his wife.

Ernie and I got married in 1999, after 4 years of some serious courtship, and lived in Knoxville, Tennessee. I have some wonderful memories of life in Tennessee and I loved getting my degree from UT. We bought a house about 6 months after we got married and I loved that house. It was actually my favorite until this house here in Hattiesburg. I loved the yard a lot. That was the house where I learned how to garden.

Then we moved to our house in Indiana, which was much bigger, but didn’t have such a large yard (which apparently really mattered to me, since I’m mentioning it now). My gardening got even better in that house and Indiana is the place where I learned how to make homemade jam and how to can. Something about the prairies brought out my inner Laura Ingles Wilder.

Kentucky looked like a picture out of Pride and Prejudice. There was a lot about Kentucky that was stressful and difficult, but it was the place where Ernie and I bonded the most. We had a yard that was full shade- which nixed any vegetable gardening plans that I had, but I loved looking out my windows and seeing nothing but trees. Fall in Kentucky was incredibly beautiful and it felt like a gift to me when Max was born in October in Kentucky, with all the beautiful trees.

Mississippi is, so far, a place of love. We’ve moved here and I love my house and I love Ernie’s new job and I love the kids schools. But more importantly than that, I feel like this is a place where The Smiths are loved by people. We’ve been taken in and accepted by good, kind people and yes, it’s really hot here in the summer, but how awesome is it to hang out at the pool with people who love you! I don’t know how long we’ll be here, but we’ll soak up all the love we can get while we’re here.

After Mississippi, who knows where we’ll be. I know that wherever we go, there will be wonderful things to learn and exciting experiences to be had (and gardening to be done)!