Back on the wagon…

So, real talk. I had big plans, and then fell off the bloggin’ wagon. I took walking-around pics for weeks thinking I’d make time to share. It’d be therapy, I told myself. But then my life got pretty awesome last fall and I was just all blissed out and distracted and didn’t “need” the therapy, and then, as it does, life just kinda went sideways last winter, and that turned into actual therapy. Honestly, it’s still pretty sideways, if not completely in a ditch upside on its crumbled roof. I don’t really know what to think most days. Even the good days leave me confused.

Really does make my head spin a little to think of all the things that have kept me offline, but we’ll get to that amazing, devastating, uplifting, and soul-crushing messiness. The whole year-at-large has just, well, sucked. According to all the memes, though, it’s been like that for many of us.

Truth be told? I’m honestly just exhausted. And I’m tired of carrying other people’s baggage, too. I know, I know. Put it down, kid. Ain’t yours to haul. I’ll just say this — it’s really complicated.

But, yeah. Life. Messy. So what do I do with this blog now?? Pick up in the old photos and start where I left off, attempting to recapture the experiences from the moments they were snapped? Start today and go? Both?

If the time away did anything, it let me get my head wrapped around what I need from this and want to offer the world, whether that’s one person or one million. I don’t really know how that looks, but I’m trusting the journey.

I do know this: Downtown is still everything I hoped it’d be, even if it’s kicked my ass a bit. Flip side, it’s brought me a weird kind of extended family where you sometimes don’t even know the people around you, and yet somehow, you all just belong. I’m officially a “downtowner” now, and I’ve learned that downtowners are some of the best people this city has to offer, despite what the local news would have you believe.

“But what about your safety???” I heard that a lot at first.  I mean, yeah… there was a shooting two blocks east of me not too long ago. That spot where the trolley smacked the peddle bar? A block west. We’re not even going to talk about Purple Haze down the way. But I walk up and down these streets, sometimes alone and at random kinda weird hours, and I’ve never felt threatened here.

Every day here is something great, even if he doesn’t call me “kid” anymore, and I rush home at quittin’ time every afternoon. I love my job, but I wish it was down here because I don’t like leaving this place to have to go out “into the world” otherwise. Are you hiring, Arthur Fulmer?

Love the walkability a ton. I’ve been to Trolley Nights, sampled pretty much every restaurant on Main Street and its offshoots, seen Steel Magnolias at The Orpheum, celebrated the 4th of July and Pride Day in Tom Lee, sampled the awesome pop-up shops, found a ton of murals (and even watched a few go up), adopted a homeless man I buy catfish dinners for from Flying Fish, ridden scooters all over without washing out or getting hit by a car, taught myself how to look both ways when the trolleys came back online, had a birthday in a speakeasy back room with my nearest and dearest, made new friends, people watched (with great amusement), listened to rooftop parties from my patio and reminisced about the nights that was me up there singing, and helped my bestie move down here in June from the ‘burbs.

I really just want to share downtown Memphis with you, how it both breaks us and saves us in this crazy ebb and flow. I want you to see something other than news stories about robberies or shootings. I want to share the stories you’re not gonna catch live at five. And maybe there’s some therapy to it still. My therapist would approve.

So, I’ll ask… What types of behind-the-scenes things would you be interested in hearing about?

What Now?

But, yeah. Life. Messy. So what do I do with this blog now?? Pick up in the old photos and start where I left off, attempting to recapture the experiences from the moments they were snapped? Start today and go? Both?

If the time away did anything, it let me get my head wrapped around what I need from this and want to offer the world, whether that’s one person or one million. I don’t really know how that looks, but I’m trusting the journey.

I do know this: Downtown is still everything I hoped it’d be, even if it’s kicked my face in a bit. Flip side, it’s brought me a weird kind of extended family where you sometimes don’t even know the people around you, and yet somehow, you all just belong. I’m officially a “downtowner” now, and I’ve learned that downtowners are some of the best people this city has to offer, despite what the local news would have you believe.

“But what about your safety???” I heard that a lot at first.  I mean, yeah… there was a shooting two blocks east of me not too long ago. That spot where the trolley smacked the peddle bar? A block west. We’re not even going to talk about Purple Haze down the way. But I walk up and down these streets, sometimes alone and at random kinda weird hours, and I’ve never felt threatened here.

Every day here is something great, even if he doesn’t call me “kid” anymore, and I rush home at quittin’ time every afternoon. I love my job, but I wish it was down here because I don’t like leaving this place to have to go out “into the world” otherwise. Are you hiring, Arthur Fulmer?

Love the walkability a ton. I’ve been to Trolley Nights, sampled pretty much every restaurant on Main Street and its offshoots, seen Steel Magnolias at The Orpheum, celebrated the 4th of July and Pride Day in Tom Lee, sampled the awesome pop-up shops, found a ton of murals (and even watched a few go up), adopted a homeless man I buy catfish dinners for from Flying Fish, ridden scooters all over without washing out or getting hit by a car, taught myself how to look both ways when the trolleys came back online, had a birthday in a speakeasy back room with my nearest and dearest, made new friends, people watched (with great amusement), listened to rooftop parties from my patio and reminisced about the nights that was me up there singing, and helped my bestie move down here in June from the ‘burbs.

I really just want to share downtown Memphis with you, how it both breaks us and saves us in this crazy ebb and flow. I want you to see something other than news stories about robberies or shootings. I want to share the stories you’re not gonna catch live at five. And maybe there’s some therapy to it still. My therapist would approve.

So, I’ll ask… What types of behind-the-scenes things would you be interested in hearing about?