It probably comes as no surprise that Joel and I have been keeping our schedule pretty full since we got married. It’s not that we like being insanely busy, it’s just habit I think.
Well, thankfully, we have been intentional lately about sticking around Madison and making it home.
It’s amazing how friendly everyone is here and how willing they are to welcome us into their town. In the past two weeks, we’ve gotten to meet a ton of incredible people. Each person we meet and the experiences we have reinforce my belief that God has specifically put us in Madison for a purpose.
So, last week, we met our precious neighbor Christy (I know, I know – we’ve lived here two months and just met our neighbor – I’m an awful person!) - a wonderful, godly girl who has a passion for helping others, demonstrated by her most recent jobs at DFCS and Mercy Health Center in Athens. I truly hope we become better friends – she is a joy to be around.
I also met Jolene, who owns our local coffee shop – Perk Avenue. It is incredible! It’s coffee shop meets weekend restaurant meets jazz bar. Needless to say, I spend as much time there as possible. If you ever get a chance to visit and you like sweet things – try the Candy Bar coffee drink: it’s a mix of caramel and chocolate – delish! Anyway, back to Jolene. My first encounter with her was when I was ordering coffee, preparing to do a day-long catch-up of my Bible study. She approached me at the counter and said, “Hi, do you need a job?” Haha! Fortunately, I didn’t need one, but we got to talking and I just love her! It’s so fun to walk in there now and see a friendly face. It makes me feel like so much less of an outsider.
Joel and I also met the owner of our local used bookstore, Dog Ear Books - such a cute name isn’t it?? Not only do they sell used books of ALL kinds, but they sell fun stationery, old music records, coffee drinks galore and locally produced dairy products. On top of that, they bring in authors from all over the country and host awesome events all the time! Shamefully, I cannot remember the owner’s name – I think it was Josh or John or James – one of those solid “J” names. But he is so friendly and willing to give you a full run-down on any book you want to know about. If you click on the link to the store, you can look at a list of books he recommends. He even gives you a brief synopsis of why he recommends them. Oh, and I’m not sure if I mentioned this, but the bookstore is in this historic, beautiful Madison house – like one of those that Sherman couldn’t bear to burn down. And they have a cat. I don’t like cats – but this cat is awesome. He welcomes you whenever you enter the house and he drinks out of the fishbowl, on the super-high mantel – the one with a fish in it.
Hmm, let’s see. We also have become semi-close with the associate pastor at the Methodist church we got married at – Pastor Troy. He is awesome! He has invited us to go to a few different things in Madison to get to know people. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to go to anything yet – but we will. Troy’s last four digits of his phone number spell T-R-O-Y… I just think that’s cool.
I’m sorry if you’re getting bored by now. It’s just fun to share Madison with other people – it’s such an amazing little town. Feel free to take a break and come back later to finish the second half. I won’t judge you.
The front page of last Friday’s local paper was the announcement of a prayer vigil for a local girl who is battling a serious form of cancer. That just doesn’t happen in Atlanta. And, sometimes, when I go to Wal-Mart, I see two old men just sitting on the bench next to the hair salon, just chatting. They wear suspenders, hold their canes and say hello to every person that walks by. …Could I have created a more perfect town??
Just around the corner from us is the Madison Produce Company. Basically, this guy works or volunteers at the DeKalb Farmer’s Market and gets to bring that fresh produce over to Madison every day. This little shop embodies everything I love about Madison. It’s small, just a one-room little store. It’s fresh, everything other than the produce was made in and around Madison. And it’s friendly, the family who owns the store is there every day and is there to serve the Madisonians. Every time I’m in there, I think how much Katie and Kayleigh would love it.
We went to dinner with one of the few young couples in town on Friday. Their names are Megan and Merritt. Merritt, bless his heart, drives ten minutes further than me every day to work. Yes, one way. We have exciting, hopeful conversations about the future of hybrid vehicles. He drives a Prius. We might get a Prius. Megan is a kindergarten teacher. They have the coolest story of how they met, fell in love, got married and spent the first 15 months of marriage. And they know a few other young couples in town. We are very excited about this.
Finally, I went to the Madison Morgan Cultural Center two Sundays ago to see the Andy Warhol exhibit. I am not a huge Andy fan, but it was cool to see authentic prints of his like this:
and this:
and this:
Anyway, I spent a little time getting to know more about Andy and then I moved on to the history of our new town. The Cultural Center has a history of all of the houses in Madison and tells the story of the important figures throughout the past two centuries. I loved learning more about this new place I call home.
All of these experiences have increased my love for Madison one hundred-fold. I can’t wait to meet more people, to learn more things, to spend more years here.
There’s no place like home.
