Stephen Yeargin

Samantha and I are fast approaching our year mark in Goodlettsville after living only six months in Bellevue (both communities in and around Nashville, Tenn.). Around this this time last year, we were spending most of our free time on apartment hunter Web sites, reading reviews and figuring out the logistics of moving our humble belongings. The aim towards the north side of the city was to cut our commutes in half, among other reasons.

Between 2006 and 2007, we moved from off campus at UT Martin to a complex run by our newspaper adviser, then moved most of our stuff into storage, then moved to Bellevue and finally to Goodlettsville, breaking two leases along the way. So staying in one location for a year is a welcome change. We liked it enough to sign on for another year while the housing and credit market stabilizes. We are also intently focussed on how things turn out on November 4. I’ve already offered my thoughts on why that is important.

One of our college friends and his fiancée are moving into another building here next month. I had always suspected that living in the major metropolitan areas in the state would mean that as our friends and acquaintances from college finished graduate school (Samantha finished hers at a breakneck pace, I just went to work) that many would probably find their way here. I had not counted on one living down the road, but I guess that is how life shakes out.

I have written a few times about how social networks are always in a state of flux, and how people fade in and out of our lives. I would estimate that the majority of people in middle Tennessee find their friends and acquaintances outside of work in a church setting. Others are volunteers in civic organizations or groups (youth soccer coaches, Habitat for Humanity home builders, political activists, etc.). It has been a longstanding goal of mine to eventually find such an outlet, but I have little progress to report in that regard.

I cannot help but wonder what things will look like this time next year.