Greetings from Knoxville

Hello from Knoxville! 

We did it, friends. We moved to Knoxville. I’ve been in my townhouse for a few days now and I think it’s finally starting to set in that I moved to Knoxville. 

In the name of authenticity, allow me to confess that this move was hard. I’ve moved a lot over the years. Knoxville for school, then off to Nashville. Back to Charlottesville, down to Chapel Hill, out to Los Angeles, back to Nashville, and now, Knoxville. I talked a bit about that here, and how this move felt different. My previous moves have felt routine. Pack up my apartment, make the journey to wherever I was headed, unpack, carry on. This time around, I ran the gambit of emotions. 

Real talk? 

I felt incredibly alone in this move. 

I’m not sure what triggered it or why, but I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders, but there were a couple of days leading up to the move in which loneliness pressed in around me and I wished for someone, anyone, to just be there. Packing felt endless. It seemed like for every one box I packed, there were two more boxes of stuff waiting to be packed. I thought I had a good schedule, a good plan, but then it was the night before my move and I was throwing things into boxes and going to Home Depot at 8 PM to get still more boxes and tape. I still had to clean my apartment, and the movers were due at 8 AM  the next morning. Time was running out. 

At some point, I disassociated. I tossed things into boxes, did my best to clean the apartment, went to bed at almost 2 AM, and was up at 6 AM to finish the job before the movers arrived right on time. Then it was loading cars and corralling dogs and calling the movers back because they somehow left a dresser, a shelf, and a desk. There was the three-hour drive to Knoxville which started an hour behind schedule, the call from the internet guy who was at my place to install two hours early – seriously what internet/cable guy comes EARLY? – letting the landlord know I was running behind and her graciously arranging a lockbox so I could get my keys without ruining her afternoon plans. There was unloading the moving truck – those guys were fantastic – while answering the internet guy’s dozen questions about where to install what. 

Then I was alone in a townhouse I hadn’t seen in person before moving in, standing in a maze of boxes and wondering where in the hell I was going to put all of my kitchen stuff when the kitchen had next to no storage. I cleared a path, settled the dogs as best I could, and did what I do best: went to Target. I didn’t sit down until 8 PM, but by then, I’d managed to put together my bed, set up the TV, and clear out the living room floor. 

I woke up Sunday feeling super grateful. I was in Knoxville and starting my new job at the University of Tennessee the next day. There was a sense of relief and a feeling of home. 

I spent the day running errands and unpacking. I went to bed far too late – shoutout to the time change – and on Monday morning, I went to campus as an employee. As I walked to the Student Union to get lunch, I was so overwhelmed with gratitude that I almost cried. I’m only a handful of days into my new role, but I love it. It’s a game changer to be somewhere that means so much to me, a place I care so much about. I was great at the job I left, but I didn’t have that authentic connection, that desire to want to progress the cause out of sheer desire. It’s scary to say it, but for the first time in my professional career, I’m doing something I’m good at for a place I love, instead of just doing something I’m good at for clients I like. It’s a magical combination. 

I don’t know what the future holds, of course. I also know not every day in the office is going to be so overwhelmingly wonderful that I want to burst into tears. I’m hopeful the swell of pride I get when I walk past Neyland and see the VOLS letters high above will never fade, that I won’t get tired of seeing students experience the best school on earth, that I won’t grow bored of leading my college, the only one of its kind in the country, into new and exciting territory. I’m hopeful that Knoxville really is finally, that this is the place I’ll stay awhile, a place where I’ll build a family, a home, and a community. 

Rocky Top has always been home sweet home. 

And I can now say it truly does feel like home.