We live in Southern California. Spouse and I are both born and raised Californians. He went to college in Arizona, but other than that, neither of us have lived anywhere but California. Never felt the need nor desire to leave our beloved state, particularly where we live now. I mean where else can you go from the beach to the desert to the mountains in one day? Plus, beach. I don’t really need to say more, unless you hate the beach, which then I would get. But, two years ago in March, we bought a lake house in Tennessee. And I absolutely love it.

We have to fly four hours to Nashville, then get a rental car and drive 90 minutes to get to our lake house. I know – it doesn’t make much sense. Why here? There are plenty of lake houses closer to San Diego than here. Spouse does have an office in Franklin, TN. That’s really what started us coming out here to begin with. We’ve talked about a vacation/mountain/beach/lake house for years. That discussion began when we started lakefront/beach front bargain hunt renovation shows on HGTV. It made me realize how much I wanted that life, that kind of retreat. I didn’t think it would really ever be in the cards for us until we started coming to TN for his work, and then just started looking around at lakes out here, and casually researching the realty websites. Almost four years ago, we spent four days on the lake we now have a house, in an Airbnb, just checking out the lake and the area. I fell in love. We started actively looking. Then Spouse decided our resources were better spent elsewhere. I mean WHY would we fly four hours and then drive nearly two more to get to a second home? I put it out of my mind, until Christmas 2023, when one of my gifts was a site map of a potential property. I cried…..our retreat, our vacation spot, a place to bring family and friends and create memories. Three months later, we were signing papers, not on that property on that site map he’d given me, but on a house that came fully furnished and stocked with linens and every kitchen supply you’d need. It had belonged to a couple just a bit older than us – a second home for their family to come together and just be, before the patriarch had a sudden, widow-maker heart attack and passed. The home they’d created felt designed just for us. We met Maggie, the previous owner, the first weekend we spent here. We promised her it would be a place of family, fun, friends, making memories. We have a photo of their family hanging in a spot of honor in the house. She has a photo of our group the first Memorial Weekend we were here.

We’re in Tennessee this week. Spouse had a conference for work, and visited his office here as well. We spent two days in Nashville. Yesterday, we drove down to our house to get it ready for the upcoming holiday weekend when family and friends will again join us for a long weekend on the lake. As we drove yesterday, I began to feel a peace I feel in few places in the world – home, my parents’ house in Arizona, whenever we visit any island in Hawaii, and now here. First of all, Tennessee is so green. California can be green, but much of the summer, the hills around us turn brown in the heat. Not so here. Second, it’s just slower here. Third, it is DARK and so quiet where we live on the lake. There aren’t a ton of streetlights, there isn’t any speakable road noise like we have on even the quietest nights at home. The first night here, I woke in the middle of the night and thought I’d lost my vision – it was pitch black in our bedroom, and completely silent. Fourth – any time I can be on, in or near water, my soul is just happy.

I think that’s the deal – why something that makes no sense on paper makes complete sense. My whole system relaxes when I’m here. I can breathe. I can just be. I have peace, especially when I’m here, surrounded by so many people I love, creating memories and just living in the same space for a few days. There are books, games, lake floatin, meals together, watching baseball, talking, walks, and 27-second hugs (iykyk). Why would we buy a lake house in Tennessee when we live in Southern California? This is why.