Category: Miscellaneous

Living in Macon, Georgia isn’t going to be what I expected. 

You may be surprised, but I don’t try to travel with a completely open mind. I’d rather have expectations, then adjust them based on what I experience. I like feeling prepared, and revising expectations gives me an opportunity to analyze where they came from in the first place so I can gain insight into how we think, me and the people around me.

When he heard I was going to Macon, the Prince’s reaction was interesting: “It’s one of the highest crime rates in the nation!” he said. That was comforting. Definitely left an impression. Other memories of South Georgia, the grit and grime of Valdosta especially, made me wonder if I was headed to a really unsafe situation. 

But Friday, as I finally turned off I-75 south of Macon, I found myself in farm country. I saw no drug deals, no suspicious-looking persons, no dirty streets or run-down buildings. My charming castle I found tucked off the main road among huge trees. The magnolias were blooming. I couldn’t hear the highway; the songbirds drowned any distant rumble with their cheerfulness. 

I quickly unpacked and settled in (finally, I’m starting to learn what I do and don’t need to travel!) From my beautiful window, I can see over the balcony to the pool below and the forest beyond that. It’s a country mile to the grocery store, McDonalds, and for that matter, anything to call civilization.

In other parts of Macon, the city definitely lives up to my expectations as a scary place. Out here in the fields, though, it’s happily nothing like I thought it would be. I’m delighted to find myself here, eating buttered bread on the balcony and enjoying the quiet, the big trees and green grass, the friendliness… all benefits of a country mile.

Back in my sophomore year of college, I took a class in creative non-fiction writing.  As we went through exercises, writing about our personal lives and our beliefs, I wanted my words to be 100% beautiful and true.  I wrote a short piece about my experience moving from the mountains of Tennessee to the deserts of Botswana, Africa and back again.  A problem arose: life isn’t always 100% beautiful, especially mine.  Fact is, I was still dealing with most of the issues and pain I’d accumulated in Botswana.  No matter what I did, in the end I was always faced with two choices: be honest and write a true, bitter ending to the story, or write a happy ending and leave my integrity at the door.  I chose to be honest.

From a critical perspective, the work was interesting but sup-par and overly metaphorical.  I’m endlessly proud of my classmates for bearing with me, and still not sure how my reputation avoided being solidified as that writer who does their creative writing on a drug high.

The class ended, but life went on, and so did my search for personal resolution… a different end to the story.  Finally, last weekend in Tennessee with my family, I stood beside the Little Doe River and reflected on how much has changed inside me since I wrote “The Rain”.  Change seems slow until you look back several years, doesn’t it?  I finally felt that I could write an honest ending to the story that wasn’t sad, or bitter, or melancholy.  Here’s the link: http://thedauntlessprincess.com/the-rain/ and I also posted it under my writings.

Time heals!  Thank God.

~The Dauntless Princess~

Today I had to clean, pack and leave my lovely suite in this gracious castle in Hagerstown, Maryland. I had to say goodbye to the wonderful people I’d worked with for over a month. I had to stop the passel of giddy highschoolers who lived next door to me and give them a large amount of unsolicited life advice about responsibility and financial success. Then I waited only on Rodger, my snail friend, to finish breakfast (he’s become fond of omlettes) before we could make the drive across Maryland to Baltimore and catch our flight to Atlanta.

Resting my elbows on the balcony railing, I looked out over the rambling castle grounds. Everything was still blooming furiously and the woods around were sprinkled with green and flashes of purple. Overlooking all this beauty, I gave my weeks in Maryland some thought.

Things I loved in Hagerstown:

1. Spring. Spring bloomed spectacularly with none of my allergens involved.

2. Rooster Moon Coffeehouse. Because every community needs a quirky, independent coffeehouse.

3. Morning and evening workouts at the YMCA. Aerobics classes are the best, and combined with a clean pool, the Y made my ideal gym. 

4. The time I spent learning. It’s not often these days I have mental space for reading or thinking, but in Hagerstown, I found I could read and think very effectively. And I took advantage of the opportunity.

5. The Historic Houses of Hagerstown. This city features some beautiful mansions. I almost wrecked every time I drove by. One does not simply not look.

And, to be balanced, things I will NOT miss in Hagerstown:

1. Crime. Although I was in an area well to the north of the city, crime still knocked on my castle door every day. My population-serving job living in a place with such a high population density of felons definitely required me to live up to being both dauntless and a princess.

2. People saying “excuse me.” In Atlanta, people move faster in closer proximity. In Hagerstown, if I stood within five feet of someone, they politely backed away and said, “excuse me.” For what, exactly? I’ll never know.

3. Traffic intersections where traffic from one direction has no stop sign but the other three do. Enough said.

I’ll take so many good memories with me from Hagerstown… Maybe the best was the day I sassed one of the castle’s cleaning ladies, so she came up behind me, pulled my hair down, then put it back up atrociously and taped my nose to my forehead while everyone else laughed.

But it’s time to put the past aside and look to the future, where a flight to Atlanta waits to take me to my dear Prince’s arms, lovely royal family, and maybe best of all, bed.

And that last prospect is something maybe even Rodger can get behind.

-The Dauntless Princess-

There have been places more quality, and there have been places more trendy. Nevertheless, Rooster Moon Coffeehouse has been my favorite hidey-hole in Hagerstown, Maryland.

I found it tucked into a low-key shopping center under a sign that said merely, “Coffee” in the same letters that would advertise “Lovely Nails and Tan” or “Huge Hibachi Buffet”.  

 

Exploring, though, I had to see for sure. And underneath the tacky exterior disguise was a warm, cheerful, comfortable coffeehouse decorated in hunter green and burnt orange with warm golden wood floors.     

 Starbucks can feel a little like a bar sometimes – in this coffeehouse, in contrast, the patrons keep to themselves and tend to be territorial. I staked my royal claim on a deep leather chair in the corner near the fireplace and whiled away some lovely hours thinking and reading. 

The coffeehouse has some surprises. For example, there’s an old safe that’s been converted to a special overflow room. With its beautiful industrial door, it has a steampunk flair that’s beautifully eye-catching. There’s some cool art (somehow matched perfectly with the rest of the decor, although I’m convinced the color scheme was decided first!) and some local pottery.  

  
 “Rooster Moon” is the perfect name: country decor with a splash of the elegant and ethereal. If I lived here full-time, it would quickly become at least a weekly habit. Rarely do I find public spaces that are comfortable and conducive to productive thinking. Rooster Moon, I’m glad I found you. 
 
-The Dauntless Princess-