alternate title, courtesy of jen: rhodes on the road.

as i was figuring out my journey to new york, i knew i wanted to break it up so that i could see a few friends along the way. i stayed one night in nashville, one night in atlanta, and two nights in baltimore, and i am so glad i made that a priority and got to spend time with some of my favorite people.

nashville.

the first people i messaged were lindsay and steve. with two full-time jobs, three kids in varying activities, and a rambunctious puppy, i wanted to make sure they would be in town and also that i wouldn’t be in the way of existing plans, and as luck would have it they somehow had a completely free saturday.

i got in just in time for a late lunch, i ran a few errands with lindsay, we hung out with their friend pedro for a while, and we had edley’s for dinner and watched encanto. it was the best possible visit.

atlanta.

next i checked in with caitlin to see if she would be around on sunday. i last saw cait at our 15-year reunion a few years ago, but i hadn’t seen wes since a quick visit to town in 2018 and i hadn’t yet met their nearly-4-year-old twins, so that was a top priority.

we spent most of the afternoon outside so the kids could run around, and one of their neighbors built a fire in their community fire pit. i got to meet a lot of their neighbors which was great fun, and cait and i also got to catch up a bit.

caitlin coordinated dinner at nam phuong with fellow rhodents shelley, bridgette, and matt, and we had a great time stuffing our faces and chatting about various life things. and once we got home caitlin, wes, and i spent some more time together before bed.

baltimore.

atlanta to baltimore is a 10-and-a-half hour drive [11 hours with stops], so i was up and out super early on monday morning. i got to laura and andy’s around 6 that evening, and we spent a great night eating dinner and reminiscing about our days in the rhodes athletics department.

on tuesday laura and i met jane and james for lunch at l.p. steamers, and then i napped and rested most of the afternoon. that evening jane came over and we ordered bodhi corner for dinner, and it was perfect.

making the extra stops made the journey from memphis to new york take longer, but it did my heart so much good to see these friends along the way and to get in some good quality time with some of my favorite people. it’s wild to think i’ve known most of them for over 20 years and to think about how much we have been through together, and i am so grateful the timing worked out for each of these stops.

next i’m hoping they make a visit to the city so i can see them again!

xx