That Girl

I know most moms are just blown away by their kids. Every child is a genius, brilliant, insightful. So, I'm sure you won't mind it if I feel biased and say my daughter is just the most amazing little girl ever.

Before I left on my adventure to Nashville, I gave my kiddos enough kisses to last 4 days. As I was leaving, Aitana turns to me and tells me "I'll hold your kiss on my heart." Yes, tears followed.

Over the past few days she has just blown me away with her amazingness (I'm making it a word). First of all, she seems to be coming around to this whole moving to Nashville deal. Up until this past Thursday, every time "Nashville" was mentioned, she'd go in to her sad "I don't want to move. I want to live in California" bit. But then on Thursday something changed ... She asked if where daddy was ... of course, he was in Nashville. Her face suddenly brightened and she exclaimed, "I can't wait to go to Nashville!" So what changed? She realized it was better for all of us to be together ... she's done our family being split on 2 sides of the country. She's only 4 and she came to that realization on her own ... BRILLIANT!

She blew me away again on Saturday morning ... I was on the phone with my mom and we were talking about Daddy L being home with us again and how it was so nice to just be together for a few days. Out of the corner I hear a quiet voice telling me "That's how it's supposed to be." My heart skipped a beat.

Later that day we were having a mommy/girlie moment ... she as telling me about her future. She's going to have 3 children ... 2 girls, 1 boy. Apparently, if we're good, God will give her 2 girls and a boy ... and yes, she has them named, too. But before she's married and has her babies, she will be a doctor. And she will live in California. I asked her if she planned on living in California even if Mommy and Daddy still live in Tennessee. Her response? "Of course. I will live in California because at that time I will be the mommy, so I'll get to decide where were live. But it's okay mommy, because you can come and visit me." Um, yeah ... I almost cried. In the same conversation she told me that when I (yes, me, Katrina) grow up, I should be a teacher because apparently would be a good one. I tried to explain that I am grown up and I am a mommy, etc., but in her mind, I still have some growing up to do! Ha ... so brilliant.

Finally, as I was putting Miss A to bed last night (Saturday), she hugged me tight, looked me in the eyes and asked "Mommy, will you always be my best friend?" Absolutely! Tears again ...

I'm not foolish enough to think that she will always feel this way ... I'm fully aware of and totally unprepared for the teenage years. But for now, I'm soaking up all this 4 year old brilliance and insight. I love that girl.

It's not called the Bible Belt for nothing!

So, as I posted on my facebook page last night ... yesterday was an interesting, turned discouraging, sort of day. It was my very FIRST trip to Tennessee. Yes, I urged my husband to take a job in and move our family to a state I've never been to. Crazy, maybe? Blind faith, definitely! But everyone we have ever talked to about TN has had nothing but rave reviews.

So, we arrive and what do I see ... nothing but dreary, gray, cold, bare, wet Tennessee. Kinwa's responds "Well, you wanted to move to a place with seasons. This is what's called winter, Baby." Ok, so I laughed. After a good nap and some coffee, we headed off to what we thought would be the best place for us to live. Hendersonville is close to Nashville and the airport, good school scores, decent rent on houses. Ok, let's go! We stopped at Target and we stop to have dinner ... and we got the glares! OMG - an Asian/white mixed race couple! How dare they?! We questioned as to why we got seated at the back of the restaurant, but whatever. The main street, well, it looked run down, not very pleasant. Not quite the area I imagined living in. So we went for a drive ... through the dark ... in the middle of nowhere. Ok, we did pass through a couple of larger cities, but once we passed those, there was nothing for a long time. Along the way, we saw that confederate flag. Oh yay :/ And let's not forget my husbands funny line "there sure are a lot of white people here."

After laughing all this off with each other and an encouraging call to my parents, we were ready to forge on and look for better. So, we did our research. We picked random cities, Kinwa looked up demographics while I looked up rentals, of course school scores. We weren't so concerned about the number of white people, but we made sure to check out Asian demographics and "Two or more ethnic groups" demographics. We found out that out of TN's millions of residents, only 1% is Asian. Many of the cities held that same demographic. You know what else I found out ... the KKK can gather publicly as long as it is peaceable and without intent to harm. OMG turned into WTF quickly.

Our research confirmed our thoughts of checking out Murfreesboro, TN (over 2,000 Asians). We had addresses for rentals to drive past just to check out neighborhoods. And Kinwa fell asleep. Me? I was up until 4am thinking, writing, crying and wondering WTF kind of mess I just got my family in. No, Kinwa was not the one who came to me about this Nashville job, I was the one who suggested and encouraged it. I couldn't help but think, what if every area looks this run down and unpleasant? Eventually I fell into sleep.

Enter Sunday ... I had hoped to get up early and go to church and experience that aspect of MRFB (what I will call Murfreesboro from now on). But 4am ... not happening! When we got there, we came across Chef Wang's Chinese Buffet ... yes, the beacon was calling us. We're both suckers for a good Chinese Buffet and this parking lot was PACKED. We were not disappointed. A good start to our adventure. And while we were there, we saw someone from every ethnic group I could think of off the top of my head, and we relaxed. After lunch, we drove to find the downtown. It was adorable. Very much like the Village in Claremont. Again, we relaxed. Just what we were looking for. But everything was closed, after all ... it is Sunday. So then we drove to find houses, the Catholic church, etc. Everything looked lovely. Old houses, newer homes that looked old, clean, spacious, and nice. Then we found MTSU (Middle TN State Univ). We were encouraged ... college town means DIVERSITY!!!! And we relaxed a little more.

So, we punched in an address to go check out rental neighborhoods. We didn't check out the large 4 bd we expected but saw an open house for another rental. We walked in and after that ... well it can only be explained as a "God Thing." The owner, who is also a realtor, was there. We looked around (not enough rooms for what we need, but still beautiful), but then spent the next hour plus talking to this woman. She lived in MRFB for 30 years, has 2 stepdaughters who are also young parents and she's a grandmother to young, school-age kids. She new everything there was to know about MRFB. She confirmed everything we researched and MORE! She took her personal time to give us more than we could have ever asked for. At the end, she asked us if we go to Church. We knew she was feeling us out early on ... we explained our situations ... different denominations ... not sure which direction to go with our family ... and she was very kind and gracious. "Y'all be able to find any church you're lookin' for. It's not called the Bible Belt for nothing!" After a little laugh, we were on our way.

For the first time this trip, we didn't feel like we just made a huge mistake. This lady was a God-send. We were all in the right place at the right time. She was exactly who we needed to meet. A mom, a grandmother, a woman of experience and kindness. And there was no doubt ... Murfreesboro is where we're supposed to be!

What's up next? The Country Music Hall of Fame! ya baby :)