My Old Kentucky Home

Last week, I rented Elizabethtown, a movie filmed in Elizabethtown, KY, starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. I can't really recommend the movie -- not really great and language issues --but it sure made me miss Kentucky. I think that is the main reason I wanted to see it. I wanted to see KY again.

None of us were thrilled to move to KY ten years ago. I cried and Mama cried. This town was pretty much all we had ever known. And to this country girl, that big city in KY was HUGE. There were all the stores, restaurants, and tourist attractions that you could think of. There was too much for one place to have. The traffic was ridiculous and never could you go anywhere without hearing a siren. When we made our visits back home, we would all breathe a sigh of relief at the slower pace, the ease of small town life.

Well, ten years changes things. I don't know for sure where I consider home anymore. When I lived in KY, I considered this place home. Now, when people ask me where I'm from, I automatically say KY. People could never understand my Southern drawl in KY. Now people here can't understand me. And I miss KY. The country was so beautiful. Rolling green hills, thoroughbred horse pastures, blooming Bradford pear trees in the spring, scarlet leaves in the fall, snow and ice in the winter. Watching the movie, I recognized the KY river bridge I drove over a hundred times at least, the rocky cliffs along I-64, the wildflowers, and the brilliant green foliage. The land here is so flat. I had never even noticed it before. There is nothing but fields and a few small grocery stores. Nothing to do. No stores. Buying a pair of shoes involves a 100 mile round trip drive. The same three restaurants over and over. I miss the big city, with all the traffic and the fast pace.

I miss the gorgeous parks.....

The stone fences...........

the sunsets............

even the snow and icicles.

Ten years in KY, and I didn't get to see half the things I wanted to see or visit the places I wanted to. It isn't likely that I'll go back anytime soon, if ever. But that place I hated so bad in the beginning became a second home to me. Those ten years almost seem like a dream now. I am right back where I started ten years ago, older, hopefully wiser, but still in the same little town. And the tables have turned. Now I wish I could see the rolling green hills and bumper-to-bumper traffic of KY. And I cried a little watching Elizabethtown.