one of the big benefits of remote work is that i can make my return visits to memphis longer and have time to enjoy being back in the 901 without having to use all of my vacation. at the end of november i spent 16 days soaking up the best of memphis, and below are the highlights of my visit.

lots of time with family and friends.

since my mother retired at the end of july, she was around to keep me company during the day — when i didn’t have calls i would work at the kitchen table while she paid bills, cooked, did her crossword puzzles, and generally puttered around. i used lunch breaks to catch up with various people, and of course marathon weekend brought many extra friends to town. it’s always tough to balance family and friends and feel like i’m giving enough time to everyone, which is a pretty lucky problem to have.

all my favorite memphis foods.

i was so excited for most of my meals that i forgot to take photos, but i managed visits to kwik chek [twice!], maciel’s [also twice! once downtown and once midtown], bar-b-q shop, blues city cafe, gus’s fried chicken, memphis pizza cafe, las delicias, slider downtown, earnestine & hazel’s, hustle & dough, and cafe india. as always there were a few i missed, but i’ll be back.

a riggs reunion.

brandon and riggs were out of town when i was in memphis at the beginning of the summer, so it had been a year since i last saw them and i was so happy our timing worked this time around. i got lots of happy whines and cuddles from riggs and two hugs from brandon so honestly i won 2023. they’re the best.

mother-daughter adventures.

in two weeks we packed in two grizzlies games, a broadway show, and of course marathon weekend. the grizzlies are not good this year which made those games tough to watch, but we had fun and got to see a few of our favorite ushers. by lucky coincidence six was in memphis the week of thanksgiving, and i loved sharing it with her. and for the third year in a row we walked our 5k for st. jude.

seeing the new tom lee park.

it has been incredible to see the transformation of tom lee park over the last four years, and i’m so glad i was able to see the recently-reopened park on this visit. the playground and structures are beautiful, i love all the seating and of course the giant swings, and it was great to see people using the space at midday on a tuesday. what a great revitalization of that space.

st. jude marathon weekend.

as ever, st. jude marathon weekend is the highlight of my whole year. you can read my recap here.

until next time, memphis!

xx