Just be still.

This post has been a long time coming... And before you brace yourself for some opinionated post that you'll write off (ha, blogging puns) as silly because I'm only 21 and still have lots to learn about the world, just know it's only been a long time coming because I should have written it last week. So there.

If you've been following my blog (Thanks, Mom and Dad!) you'll know quite a bit about my journey towards becoming a writer and my love of the country. Well, it's easy to be a writer when no one knows who you are, and you know you can write basically whatever you want on the internet and no one will care. So these blog posts can be as long and rambling as I wish, because at least I know Ty and my parents will read them. :) The hard part is finding the country.

My husband and I live in Nashville, TN. The "Greater Nashville Area" contains around 2 million people. So, basically you're looking at a 20+ mile diameter that's packed with people. Now you can start to understand why the country and peace I'm looking for is hard to find. In a search for the country, I happened across Long Hunter State Park, one of the many state parks in Tennessee.

Before I go into detail about my escapades out of the city, I need to take a moment to talk about my husband, Ty. He's a pretty cool guy. Want to know why? (Okay, I'm done rhyming... you're welcome.) Ty's probably one of the most supportive husbands there is. He fast-tracked his undergraduate degree so he would be able to move with me. He whole-heartedly supported my "dream" of becoming a nurse practitioner, then whole-heartedly supported my decision not to become a nurse practitioner. He moved half-way across the country with me to a huge city. (Not to mention the fact that he studied abroad in Europe and Central America with me!). He's supported my goals of pursuing writing, he's taken my family as his own, and he's definitely put up with and handled a lot of whining, crying, complaining, sobbing, mess-making, and general hard-to-be-around-ness from me as I work my way through this four month long and counting post-undergrad existential crisis. (Shouldn't I be changing the world by now?) Anyway, Ty is awesome, and not to say we haven't faced our share of challenges as a young married couple and our relationship is all sunshine and roses, but I love him.

Okay, moving on, but still keeping in mind how supportive Ty is, he's also hard working. He's working full time with a realty company helping them sort our their records, and studying full-time as a masters of accounting student. On this beautiful Saturday, Ty was diligently studying, while I was trying to find a way not to distract him. So, I did what any sensible country-girl-who-lives-in-the-city would do: I went on a solo hiking trip.

I'm-hiking-without-makeup-on face.

Long Hunter State Park is about 30 miles south of where we live. My Kansas family is thinking "Oh, just thirty minutes!" No. 30 miles. 45 minutes if you're extremely lucky. So I hopped in the car and an hour later was checking out the trails and the lake.

Here's one of the first views I had. The lake water reflected back the cloudless blue sky, and all I had to do was to sit back and enjoy it.

Which is what I did... from a bed of rocks.

There was this outcropping of stone into the lake, so I (carefully) walked across it to sit by the water.

I saw one bird, which classifies as "wildlife".

Then I got up and walked along a trail. There were a few scary moments when a huge group of men came to the camping area for a picnic, and when I accidentally took a wrong turn and walked through some spiderwebs. But, as Ty says, can't expect to go to the forest and not see any wildlife.

Some of the trail was particularly neat because of the diverse views. On one side of me was thick forest, and the other side a lake framed by spindly trees.

When I got far enough down the trail, I started seeing people less and less. After a while, I saw a bench and claimed it as my own. For the better part of an hour, I sat down and wrote two fiction stories that came to mind. (Later, when I got back home, I edited them and sent them into contests. Fingers crossed for positive results!)

As I walked around the trail, I came to a dock where I saw a woman sitting by herself. If I'm being honest, I was a little irritated. This is selfish of me, but it was such a beautiful spot, and I wanted it all to myself, and here's this woman setting up camp! I quickly shoved those feelings aside and walked onto the dock. Then, for whatever reason, my shy self started a conversation.

Something Reminisce has taught me, is people sitting in calm quiet spots generally have something really profound to tell you. This woman was no exception. In her words: "I come out here because water's a representation of the Holy Spirit, so I can clearly hear from God out here. I really can just hear his voice. He literally tells me to go left or to go right. It's just that simple."

While talking with Leigh, I got that feeling again, like something really profound was happening. I asked her what the most important lesson was that God had taught her. "Obedience," she said. "I've learned that if you have a thought in your heart, God probably put it there. You just need to listen." Of course we exchanged emails, and as I walked away, I promptly burst into tears. If I don't stop crying in public parks, Tennessee might have to send me back home to Kansas.

When I made it back to my car to head home I was tired. I'd just walked for hours, exposed myself creatively through writing, and came face to face with the Holy Spirit. I want to be clear here: God is everywhere. He's in the dry blades of grass, the falling leaves, the powdery dirt on well-worn trails, the rippling water, the expansive sky, the tiny ants, the people He created, everything. But, in the last few weeks, I've encountered him in ways I never knew was possible. I think if more people experienced it this way--or allowed themselves to experience God this way--there would be so many more believers. Either way, it was amazing and I'm forever thankful to have experienced it.

Because this post is a week late, I'm also including some of this past weekend's adventures...

Saturday, 10.24.15

Saturday was mostly a slow day for me, because Ty was working and I was trying to submit more writing to competitions. Saturday night, though, we got some excitement. We have been hanging out with "Cathedral Young Adults" in Nashville. It's basically a group of 20- or 30-something's that go out to eat and have parties together to build a community with our church (Cathedral of the Incarnation). This Saturday, there was a Halloween party... in a mansion.

When we first drove up to this place, I wanted to turn around. I'm guessing this house was over 10,000 square feet, which is a little intimidating considering Ty and I use a cardboard box as an end table. Anxiety and insecurities aside, we went inside... there was beer, so everything was okay. I even made small talk with a math professor and a quantitative psychologist... so there's that. It was more enjoyable than I just made it sound, I promise. 

Sunday, 10.25.15

On Sunday, Ty had a little more free time (or procrastinated some more of his homework). So, we decided to go out to the dog park. The weather was absolutely perfect, and Papi loved it. It was a win-win. Except for the fact that there was a husky/papillon mix (don't ask me how that worked) that was incredibly more athletic than Papi. So, while Papi should have been making friends with his own kind, he was supporting his ego by making friends with reallllllly tiny dogs.

After the dog park, we went to Centennial Park, where there were a bunch of twinkling yellow lights strung up.

Have I mentioned before how much I like Centennial Park?

While we strolled through the park, we happened across a woman who considers herself "quasi homeless" for "Hearts for Humanity". She said that being "homeless" is her down time. She is trying to slow down and reconnect with nature. She says she has a house but she's trying to do without it. However, once it cools down she plans to go get her car, because it might be too dangerous without it. She also said that her husband passed away of leprosy, and that her six children are all "millionaires". Part of me was wondering if she was eccentric, if this was a coping mechanism for being homeless, or if she was bonkers. I think maybe the first one? Logic says she's bonkers, empathy says the middle one, and hope says the first one. Either way, she was a neat lady to talk to. I wish her all the best in her life, and I'll probably swing by the park from time to time to see how she's doing.

In some ways it's been an eventful two weeks... from seeing new parks, to partying in mansions, to meeting an eccentric humanitarian. In other ways, it's been drudged down by the monotony of school and work. I guess for now I'm just hanging on to the excitement in life hoping that it will color my every day perspective.