Weekly Wandering ...... March 21

The past week or so has been quite interesting. And again, I have learned so much that I want to share. Some will be interested, some will not. I share it all though because although not all posts reach everyone, I know that some posts reach a lot. I hope you learn and enjoy.

This past week has been busy.

1) In my job, I end up traveling around the area visiting properties that we manage. This week, I drove past this sign and it made me stop and think of all the things we have gone through during the last year or so.

Mt. Juliet is a strong community that sticks together through thick and thin. We may fuss and fight over little things but when the shit gets serious, we stick together and band together to support and assist each other. Jim and I have been living here for almost two years and we've seen it time after time. A little over a year ago we had the tornado go through our town. We were less than a mile from the destruction and felt the impact immediately. We saw the destruction. We saw the volunteers immediately reaching out to help each other. Personally, we had one of my coworkers call me at 1:00 in the morning. When I answered the phone, all she said was "You and Jim need to get in the bathtub NOW". The tornado had already hit her neighborhood in East Nashville and she new if was coming our way. Community. Friends. We all watch after each other.

Then we had the derecho come through. Winds that were crazy like a tornado, but straight lined. Jim shot a video from our patio. It was insane. Neighbors reported their furniture that had been blown to two streets away.

Then ....... COVID. COVID adjusted the volunteer efforts for the tornado. Volunteers were now limited. And quickly became put on hold. Many of the tornado victims were negatively affected. But the community still tried where they could.

Then in December, when we thought things were on the upslope, things got worse. I woke up on Christmas morning looking forward to a quiet day with Jim. Instead, I woke to Jim asking me if I had seen what was going on downtown. A bomb had gone off in downtown Nashville in one of our favorite areas. It took a minute for me to process because it not only affected me personally, but it also affected me on a professional level. One of the buildings that is managed by the company I work for is within a block of the bombing. What the heck!

Again, our community comes through. Although Mt. Juliet is a suburb, we volunteer, we donate and we assist.

The moral of my story is.......... I love Mt. Juliet.

2) This week I worked one day from our corporate office. It is only partially open so you have to make a reservation to work from there and there are a lot of safety measures in place. However, the work atmosphere is wonderful. I have my large screen monitor, a large desk area, the ability to raise and lower the desk so I can stand and work if I want and a view that is to die for. I am beyond grateful to have such a great workspace available to me. I can watch the development of Nashville explode and enjoy the energy! And once in a while I get to watch the General Jackson float by!

And then there was the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion panel that I wa honored to be a part of. I listened to the panel of my coworkers discuss how we, as a company, plan to continue our growth and education on this topic. I have always known that we are all the same but to know that the company I work for is also promoting this.... well, it's an honor to be a part of it.

3) And then there was the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion webinar I attended. Wow! I have always believed that we are all the same and we all deserve to be treated equally but knowing that I work for a company that promotes these beliefs is so wonderful. I am learning that I do have biases that I need to work through but honestly, it's all about the forward movement. So exciting!

Friday I was working out of one of the buildings we manage that is in the midst of downtown. I took a break and looked out the window that overlooked Broadway. Dang. I think COVID had been cancelled. As much as I love to see lower Broadway thriving, I do worry about the safety of everyone. I watched the "woo woo" girls going by on the open top buses and the pedal bars pedaling by. Many did not have mases on. The energy is back though and hopefully everyone stays safe.

Friday night brought a new dynamic. Jim and I decided to go out and eat. Indian food was on the menu. We went to a magnificent place that Jim had been to, but I had not. It was amazing. This was the first time we had been out for a year. Everyone was being safe and the food was amazing. I went to the restroom at one point and fell in love with a painting that on the wall. The owner could not remember where he had purchased the painting but said it was also one of his favorites. There was an African theme on the horizon. Jim and I started talking about vacations and we have pretty much decided that within the next year we will be taking the vacation to Africa that we had booked prior to my cancer diagnosis. We want to give COVID a little more time to slow down, but then we are headed to Africa!

And then we continued our night out. We went to the new area in Downtown Nashville named Fifth and Broadway. Then we checked out one of our spots in Printers Ally. Then we checked out a new place called Pinewood Social, where we met a wonderful group of people and talked for the next few hours. We had a great time and it was nice to get out and about. We were reminded how much we love meeting new people. "Ian" kept telling us how great it was to meet such fun and personable people.

It's really been a great week and the weather....... well, it's awesome.

We are really looking forward to more visitors in 2021 where we can all feel safe and we can all have fun!

Love and peace to all!!