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I stepped out onto the back porch this morning in the wee hours to enjoy the birdsongs and my coffee. As usual, Missy’s little paws padded beside me, but we both made a quick retreat into the house when the blast of heat hit hard. Summer in the Deep South is upon us, and once more the respite of a morning shower cools things off a bit.

The lake is calm today with no wind to ripple the water. At this particular moment all I see of wildlife are a couple of turtles sunning themselves, but in the early morning today before the rain I glimpsed a small gray fox move stealthily across the bank. It makes me wonder if this is his normal morning gaunt, and I just happened to be up early enough to catch a glimpse of him.

We are all somewhat creatures of habit, I believe. I know that routine makes most of us feel a certain sense of security, and change can be difficult, but change is also exciting. With the virus rearing its ugly head and uncertainty about the new school year Mike went back to his old job of over the road trucking with Danny Herman Trucking.

It was pretty difficult for him to have to travel 10 hours home when he had time off so we made the decision to consider moving closer to his work and our daughter in Tennessee. Mind you, we were only contemplating it and praying for the doors to open for us if that was God’s plan. But before the ink dried on our contract to put our home on the market a lovely family fell in love with it.

So here we are, off on another adventure! If all goes as planned Newport, Tennessee will be our new home. We are excited to be able to move closer to Mike’s work and our family in Tennessee, but equally saddened to leave our family and friends in this area. As I stated, change can be challenging, but it is also exhilarating to find out what new friends and activities will be in our future.

I’m hopeful that we will be visiting often, and just to make sure I booked appointments with my friend and hairdresser for a haircut every three months. I have to find a new doctor, a new dentist, a new church, and on and on. But with all that change in my future I decided that I had to draw the line somewhere!

Our prospective new hometown is right on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, and we are already planning to lure our friends up for a visit. If all goes as planned we will reside about 45 minutes from Ashville, and 45 minutes from Knoxville, so there are plenty of fun things to do in the area.

I will miss so many things about the Deep South, but that blast of heat I felt this morning will not be among them!

Jan Penton Miller can be reached at lilsisjan@yahoo.com.