year end thoughts (and how blogging helped me fall for Knoxville)

I'm getting sentimental in my old age.

Nothing makes it worse than when different seasons of life come to an end, so this being my last post of 2010, I'd like to reflect on living in Knoxville, especially in regard to being a writer for the Wigshop.

I've mentioned this in the past, but my first year after graduating from UT was a bittersweet one. Many of my friends moved away to figure out what to do with their lives as I struggled to figure out what to do with mine. I lived in a crappy yet quaint apartment in Maplehurst and watched as downtown Knoxville miraculously made leaps and bounds while the rest of the country seemed to be in shambles. I rode my bike everywhere because I couldn't afford to put gas in my car. I did, however, always seem to have enough money for lots of cheap beer*. Along the way, I was asked to write for the Wigshop. 

I admit that, at first, I used writing about Knoxville as a means to justify living here. I vindicated my decision to stay by trying to prove just how cool of a place it was becoming.

What I didn't foresee was how writing about this city would make living here not just bearable, but legitimate. It opened my eyes to what Knoxville had to offer, and the more I wrote, the more I realized there was to write about. In many ways, it made staying here just as exciting as traveling somewhere new.

Thankfully now I don't feel the need to defend Knoxville like I once did. I'm confident it's a great city in which to live, being a size and caliber that is both close-knit and full of new things to see and do. I'm very proud to call it my home.

So as this year comes to a close, and we ring in 2011, here's to Knoxville, Tennessee. Happy New Year!!**

* One of many things to be thankful for in Knoxville
** My top picks for places to be on New Year's: First Night, Pilot Light Party at Ironwood Studios, and the Public House. Cheers!