My Old Kentucky Home
"I Never Met A Kentuckian Who Wasn't Either Thinking About Going Home Or Actually Going Home"
- Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler, Sr.
I have been privileged to travel, a lot. I have a supportive family, I'm healthy enough to travel, and I am fortunate to have a job (and parents..) that pays me enough to travel a few times a year.
But no matter where I go, the trips I take, or the places I live, nothing beats going home.
Home for me is Lexington, Ky. I was born and raised there. I've had the same address, at the same house, on the same cul-de-sac since I could talk.
I grew up with four distinct seasons, each more beautiful than the last. I spent 24 hours on beautiful days and even more jaw-dropping nights. Basketball wasn't a sport, but a lifestyle, and owning a wildcat blue shirt was a basic human responsibility. Tea was iced and usually sweet, and chicken was its own food group in my diet. (Paired best with a cold Ale-8).
Southern hospitality was, and still is, embedded in my soul, and I will forever remember the mountains in which my grandparents grew up. I love listening to their stories in a thick southern accent and visiting the places they frequented often when they were my age.
I can tell you how to read horse racing odds, the best places to go to see the luxurious farms, and in the summer of 2015, I was jumping up and down as I watched American Pharoah (a KY native horse) run his way into history.
I can describe the smell of bourbon as it sits in barrels at a local distillery, and I almost always have a tiny amount of bourbon on hand when I'm away. (Unwritten law: Only "true" bourbon comes from Kentucky.)
The landscape of Kentucky is unique in that it changes from a city to a suburb to a mountain within a few miles of each other. You can spend a day hiking in the mountains and then spend the night out in the city.
I had amazing neighbors and friends, and spent my younger years re-enacting wild adventures. As I grew up, I spent my time actually going on adventures: attending college, joining a sorority, and meeting new people, all in the great bluegrass state.
But most importantly, I was lucky enough to grow up with a majority of my family around. I could have been born anywhere in the world, but I was lucky enough to be born there.
I truly feel Kentucky is the best place on earth, even when I call other places my temporary home. I know I am biased, and there are many fantastic places in the world, but I will forever have Kentucky in my blood.
For those of you who have never been to the Bluegrass state, or for those of you who only know the name ending with "Fried Chicken"..well, bless your heart.
