Back home to another home again

By the time this is posted, I will be back home. In my current home, that is. But as I write this, I am sitting in a hotel room, just about a mile away (as the crow flies) from one of the five places that I have called home in my life.

The hotel room is in the Gaylord Opryland Resort, which is where we are spending the Easter weekend for the Lads to Leaders convention (more about that later). And the home that I am referring to was just across Briley Parkway from where I am right now, in Nashville, Tennessee.

Yes, in case you didn’t know, we lived in Nashville for about a year and a half back when I was growing up. That was just about 35 years ago, in 1976 and 1977. I had my sixth birthday here. I learned to ride a bicycle here. I broke my arm here falling off the swing set. Actually, I was more or less pushed off by another kid. But that’s another story for another time.

Times have changed a bit since then. Back then, our house was almost right across the highway from Opryland. We could even see their July 4th fireworks from our front yard. But then some years ago they tore down the theme park and built a mall in its place. So now there is no more Opryland. At least the Grand Ole Opry House is still here, and we could also see that from our front yard. But the huge Opryland Hotel where I am now sitting wasn’t even started back when we lived here. Things change, but that is just part of life.

Even though I was rather young when we lived here, and even though things have changed a bit since that time, whenever we come here, everything feels familiar. The roads look familiar, the names are all familiar, the air even smells familiar. I can even see our old church building from the hotel parking lot, and I can remember all kinds of experiences and adventures there, along with people who were there. It really was home for me here for a while. Even though it wasn’t for long, and even though it was long ago, all those memories still stick with me, and it is still home.

I’m perfectly happy with my current home as it is right now, and I hope it continues to be home for a long, long time. But still, it is good to visit the old home every now and then, just to bring back some memories.

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“640” caption=“The Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville”] [/caption]