*This is a blog that I’ve been wanting to write to a while now, but since moving out in August, I haven’t been able to pull myself to do it. I have actually spent several days while on the race being homesick for Knoxville because I never properly closed out my time there and said goodbye. So here is that, I’m saying goodbye and letting go of Knoxville, TN.
Goodbye Knoxville,
It’s been a great four years. I have dreamed of what living in Knoxville would be like from the time that I was 6 years old. I can’t believe that our time has already come and gone.
When I think of you, Knoxville, I think of the word warmth, overtime I wrap up in my sleeping bag and get warm I think of you. As the memories come back I think of the warm summers that I lived there, but also the warmth that came in the middle of the cold winters.
Knoxville you were the place where I learned how to be an adult. I move there not long after I turned 18 and didn’t really look back. I learned that the small Ben and Jerry’s ice cream actually isn’t a single serving size. You saw me work 2 jobs and go to school at the same time, just struggling to make ends meet. I learned to balance time and how much sleep I really need to survive. You saw some of the biggest heartbreaks of my life. You saw some of the biggest failures of my life, but also some of the biggest successes of my life.
In Knoxville, is where I really learned the importance of friends, and that family is more than just blood. It is there that my circle of friends moved from just being friends from school to being friends from every part of life. I learned to live with people that weren’t family and that were practically strangers to me.
Knoxville, is the place where I learned to take pride in where I am in life, whether it’s singing Rocky Top in Neyland Stadium on a Saturday night or telling my testimony.
You are the place where I became the closest to God, and where I learned so many importance lessons in my faith. You saw some of the biggest stumbles, and some of the highest mountain tops of my faith. It is in Knoxville, where I learned to step outside my comfort zone. I learned to be still, reverent, and diligent with my faith in Knoxville, but also to not hold back my praise or be afraid to speak up and move. I learned to listen to the plan that God had whether it’s sharing God with a friend over supper or buying a pack and packing my life up for the world race.
I don’t know if our paths will ever cross again except for just weekends and visits, and that make me sad. I may be living in Central America right now, but I am always carrying a little piece of Knoxville with me every where I go because you, Knoxville, got me to where I am.
Rocky Top you’ll always be home sweet home to me!
Love,
Jennie Kate
