(A first of many revelations on my recent trip to Ten Mile Tennessee)
"Ten Mile Tennessee I hear you calling me, back to a simpler place and time..."
Off on a wanderlust, left Illinois for Ten Mile on New Year's eve. Left a mountain that I did not care to climb, stayed neutral to long there on the ascension. I needed to get away to see the trees beyond the forest. And see I did.
There's something about the place and the faces and...the sweet tea. Here in the North-damn yankees! We put lemon in our unsweetened tea-after what I've encountered there in Meigs County, I say "Sweet Tea please!" I want to be warm and welcoming, accommodating and fun like the sunshine over the peaks of the hills beyond Watts Bar lake. People- (may I call you people? Thanks.) I experienced more friendly just downright hospitable hospitality there in Ten Mile in 6 days time, in a conglomerate of different folks with different strokes-than I have in any place I've traveled, and believe me, I get around when the road beckons. "Would you come for supper?" "Don't worry gal, we'll take care of you!" "You're always welcome." "Sweet Tea (sounds like swiite tee)"Cornbread?" "You ought to meet..." "You ought to go to...." And all those southern gents, my, my, my-they are a respectful bunch. Well, I almost felt like a real girl! I might have even blushed a little, especially at being told I looked like a porn star from one wild man from the woods. Was I offended? Nah-mostly upended for a bit, but then I learned he meant it as a compliment. Don't know which flicks he'd been watching, I'm not so blessed in the ta ta region-must have been a flimsy film he was referring to! I got to tell you, it's not every day you get a compliment like that! If I had dentures, I'm pretty sure they would have flown out of my mouth at his observation. Huh, maybe I'm in the wrong business...film, well maybe those films, is where the money is! Ha!(And technically, he said I looked like a school teacher porn star, there's a visual for you.) I can see it now...Terry Does Ten Mile, and then maybe Terry Does Sweetwater, and then-now follow me, I'm just such a visionary-Terry Does Dallas! Never been there, might work out for me. If I can keep my clothes on. And my eyes closed. And had breast implants. And fuller lips. And made weird noises that are suppose to sound like pleasure...but the roosters and the chicks I know sound much like an orgy I think- when they're scratching and strutting. So, yea...I could do it...in a pig's eye!
Back to the sweetness. I don't think the smile left my face the whole time I was there. I even sang karaoke! I got so liquid couraged up, I did Patsy Cline on "Crazy". I think I nailed it. Well, maybe I sounded a bit like Willie Nelson, but by golly I said why not(I was among kind strangers remember.)
I think I've given the Southerners a shine for the yankee, and I was beyond blown away by the grace those folks showed me. "....I'm going back someday, where the children run and play, and the sage fields gently sway in Ten Mile Tennessee." That's how I picked my destination, a song. Crazy? Just a bit. And lots of fun. And quite the pool shark...but that's another story. Take care-
