I've had a lot of time to think while I'm opening and closing boxes, so I decided to compare these two cities and see what I come up with. I have not really considered everything in both places yet, so I will be excited to see which one in my view wins out. So, let's start:
Beauty: Montgomery-not so much, but Wetumpka is pretty. Memphis is a pretty city, so that's a wash.
Job: loved my job in Montgomery ; don't have a job here yet, so for now Montgomery goes ahead by 1. O-1
Proximity to family: Memphis wins hands down. Both of our parents are within an hour or so of Memphis and my sister, Peggy, and her family live here. Clark's son, Sam, is based out of here, though he's in China for the next two years. We're even. 1-1
Proximity to airport: Well, Montgomery has an airport, but I rarely used it. Both flights I booked out of Montgomery were cancelled , so I missed my connection in Atlanta twice. We always drove to Birmingham or Atlanta to catch a flight, and driving home was usually late at night. It will be so nice to jump on a plane to visit my kids and their cute kids right here in the same town. Montgomery gets a big 0 and Memphis goes ahead by 1. 2-1
Proximity to outdoor activities: I was shocked when we moved to Montgomery, because they really do not have a good park system. There are very few places to take kids and dogs. Memphis has my fave, Shelby Farms, and because it is big, there are lots of places to hike, bike, and explore. You also have to drive your head off to get anywhere in the mountains from Montgomery. The beach is closer, but we prefer the mountains. -lots of mountains closer to Memphis-Memphis goes ahead another point. 3-1
Neighbors: We have never had such fabulous neighbors as we had in Wetumpka. I would find it hard to believe that there is a neighborhood as friendly as the one we left. I'm talking: cleaning your house when you have people coming to look at it (because you are out of town), walking your dog every day when you are at work, surprising us with dinners and desserts , mowing the yard when we were gone, dog sitting too many times to count, feeding Clark when I was out of town, shooting an occasional copperhead or timber rattler, and jumping in to help us mulch---just to name a few things. And this is from a bunch of folks on the street--not just one family. So I'm going to have to give 2 points to the old hood here, and the score is even. 3-3
Restaurants and Entertainment: Memphis is delicious. And there's more to do, but that's a little unfair because it's a bigger place, but still...... Memphis 4 Montgomery 3
Residence: Those of you who have been reading my blog know that I am in critical condition having to move away from my house, gardens, and critters deep in the Alabama woods. We have plopped down right in the city, with its bars on windows, security men 24/7, beautifully coiffed yards, complete with chemicals of every kind, and noises---oh, the noise! Maybe Montgomery would have been just like that too, but we chose to live out from town in the woods, so I have to compare what I know---so we are all tied up. 4-4
Clark's job: 10 minutes and lunch at home eclipses a 10 hour round trip once a month. Memphis 5 Montgomery 4
SEC Athletics: I don't know where to start here. If you live in Alabama and you do not pull for either Auburn or Alabama, you are a semi-outcast. Aaaaaannd if you happen to have attended another SEC school, like, uh say, Ole Miss, who is performing poorly and is looking like the worst team in Ole Miss history, you are a joke. Their football means EVERYTHING to them. -- really-- Flags are still waving on cars way after football season is over--in fact, it's never over in Alabama. It seems if there's a get together, the conversation always drifts to Alabama or Auburn football. I wonder if they know they have other sports teams at their schools. One time I complimented an Alabama alum on a big win for their tennis team by telling her, "Congratulations on your beating Notre Dame this weekend in the NCAA championship." And she said, "Oh, you must be mistaken; football is over." and so it goes.......
And another thing--Auburn and Alabama HATE each other more than any other interstate rivalry I've ever known. And it's not pretty. at all
So we are so glad to be in a city where there are lots of Ole Miss folks, and we can cry on each other's shoulders. Because there's gonna be lots of crying this year. Yep, football season was a good time for us slip out of Alabama.
Memphis 6 Montgomery 4
Church: We never seemed to plug into a church in Montgomery. There were very sweet churches in the area with very good ministers and wonderful folks. I don't know why we couldn't plug in. Maybe because we were gone so much on the weekends visiting family that we just couldn't seem to be consistent in our attendance. But we are really excited to hear that Maxie Dunnam is interim minister at Christ United Methodist in Memphis, and because we have attended there before, I think we will like it a lot. So Memphis goes up another point. Memphis 7 Montgomery 4
And, I'll stop here. Looks like Memphis, for us, is a winner!! And that's a good thing, because we're here now. What I've learned in all my moves is that sincere, kind, generous people are everywhere. You just have to get up and find them. And as soon as I get these boxes out of this house, that's what I intend to do.
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