Relocating to Knoxville real soon

[ceeglass]

Okay, answer me this. I grew-up in Knoxville, well, Fountain City really. Attended Inskip & Sterchi Schools and attended Smithwood Baptist Church until my daddy was transferred when I was 12. I have wonderful memories of camping in the Smokies when the bears were still allowed to come up to your car for a cookie. Going to Alcoa, Whittle Springs, Lakewood or out to Norris Dam to go swimming. Going to UT (Univ. of TN) to hear David Van Vactor and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. Attending summer camp at Camp Carson and Weir's Valley. Oh, and the spectacular colors of October blazened allover Sharp's Ridge. When I was 17, right after high school graduation in South Carolina, my family ended up, due to daddy's work, in Los Angeles. I have lived in Southern California ever since now residing in South Orange County where "The Real Housewives of Orange County" actually live. As an interior designer, I have done many homes in Coto de Caza, where all these self-centered self-absorbed maven's live. The show is a very accurate depiction of the people and lives of those living in the OC, especially south OC (Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente, etc.). Here is my question. Could I go home? I just don't know. We can go surfing in the morning, snowboarding in the afternoon and spend a winter (that means a high of only 56 for the day) in a balmy 74 in Palm Springs to plan our next trip to Disneyland (20 minutes from my home), Hearst Castle, Camping in the Redwoods or whatever. I love that part of the Southern California lifestyle. I do remember when we lived in Knoxville, we could be in North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky all in one day practically and the beach, Northern Florida and Myrtle Beach, weren't that far away, but further than I'm used to now (7 minutes.) The majestly of the Smoky's is incredible, much more beautiful than the California Mountains, even though some of them are great, just not as spectacular, frilly and teeming with life. Would the Southern's still look at me as a Southerner? If they heard I was from Orange County would they go out of their way to make sure I knew I wasn't all that - because, truly, so many people here think they are because of their address. I didn't graduate from Central or Farragut High like many of my former classmates. My accent isn't so southern anymore, although after 40 years I still get asked on occasion what part of the South I am from, it's more the colloquialism's I think, like "y'all" and "I'm fixin' to ...." and calling my parents Mama and Daddy instead of Mom and Dad. I miss the kindness, courtesy, manner's and thought of others I was brought up with. The "yes, ma'am or sir" to the teacher or elder that I've never heard in a California classroom or social setting. Guys opening doors for women, it rarely happens here. Can I go home? Or, have things changed there, too? Is the softer more genteel southern life I knew as a child in Knoxville still there? Can kids still go play in the woods across the street (like I did) from their house without fear or take off on their bike to a friends house without a parent having to follow? Is that world still there? It is not here. Can I go home?

[leonard]

Originally Posted by ceeglass

Can I go home?

You can never go home.

I grew up in Orange county, graduated from Newport Harbor High School, and can't go home either. I can move there, but it is no longer the same.

You can try to go "back", but it is better to move ahead.

I think you could still be happy in Knoxville, as I hope to be (assuming my wife and I move there instead of Chattanooga).

Since you probably would not have the same friends as you did, nor be able to ride a bike in the same places because of change, you can't really go "back".

However you can make your new HOME there.

Maybe we could be neighbors and bore our other neighbors with stories of So Cal and the weather.

Maybe we would just be new friends and learn to enjoy the beauty that exists in TN.

[aquarijen]

Kids can still play in the woods and bike to friends houses - depending on the neighborhood (of course, lol!)
You can never go back to a particular time in your life.
You can come back to Knoxville and find that the place is still a loving place and slower than in CA. I went to Silicon Valley for a couple years and I had to come back. I DO miss the spectacular beauty there - it is not as "showy" here - our trees not as big and cliffs not as big and we don't have the sea. But the quiet beauty is here and the life is slow enough to appreciate it and neighbors are everywhere and the people are, for the most part, genuine and friendly. I'm much happier here. I can't answer if you would be or not - I *like* plain things. I *like* wabi sabi. I think pealing paint on an old barn is beautiful.

[ceeglass]

Thanks Aquarijen. I'm know I can't go back to the Knoxville of late 1961 I left. It's the values and people that concern me most because of the self-centered society I live in in Southern California - has that made it across country just like everything else out here. Cars, styles, music, technology all change, but that Southern
life of considerations, values and standards is what I'm worried about having eroded
to the extent they are just not relevant to southern society today.