Part of me was holding off on writing about Nashville because once I did, it would kind be admitting that I’m no longer there. You know, denial.

For years I’ve been wanting to go to Nashville, and there have been times when I’ve even had a plane ticket… that I had to cancel. But then! Then a trip to Nashville became kind of urgent.

See that baby girl up there? That’s Layla. I took that picture of us in december of 2011. She and her sister Lucy were about 6 months old. Her dad is my good friend Ernie. and a few months after that picture, the Halters moved to Nashville.

I’ve been watching Ernie and Kristen post all of these pictures of the girls and it seriously killed me. A little tiny part of me died each time I realized they had grown from infants into toddlers and had no idea who I was.

So that’s when Nashville became urgent.

People kept telling me all of these things to do and see while I was in Nashville and I kept saying, “my only plan is to spend a lot of time with the Halters.”

and that’s what I did. and I am eagerly looking forward to the next time I sit at the dinner table with my two favorite twins.

 

 

Megan picked me up from Krystin‘s house, where I sat on the porch listening to the alarm go off because I somehow accidentally set it off when I left. She took me to get breakfast and showed me her wonderful house. She was the last human I saw aside from the Halters for like two days. Which was perfect.

My name got added to the chalkboard. In pink chalk. Perfect.

 

 

The next day we went to Kroger. That was the big excursion for the day. This is Layla all ready to leave. That catalog was destroyed by the time we got back.

Yeah, that is a Hello Kitty cape. No, I cannot stand it.

 

 

Wednesday, Ernie took me to the Mocha Club office. Which might seem like a kind of silly, little thing. But it was a BIG thing because I have been a Mocha Club member for like 7 years and every time I’ve planned on going to Nashville I’ve wanted to go to the Mocha Club office. Then Ernie drove me down Broadway and past the Ryman (which was awesome because the cd in my car back at home was Jonny Lang Live at the Ryman), then down Music Row. I took 0 pictures of any of that. You’re welcome.

Twin tip toes! So cute. and the dresses!

Lucy. That face. That smile. !!!

and Layla. I just want to jump back to when this picture was taken and hug her forever. 

Lucy jumped in the toy basket and started throwing everything out of it.

Layla eating strawberries. I swear to you they are the most fascinating people in the history of the world and make even little things like eating strawberries seem so interesting.

and back to Lucy. This was the day I kept calling Layla by her sister’s name. She’d look at me and go “…I’m Yaya. That Nucy.” and I felt like a jerk every time. Looking at these pictures I can clearly see who is who. That makes me feel better.

 

 

 

Layla brushing her mom’s hair.

and listening to her dad’s new record.

Listening to “Lucy Wears Red” and recognizing her dad singing her name for the first time. This picture is ridiculous.

 

The girls have a low tolerance for their dad’s music, and this was about the point when Lucy was over it.

Now I’m kinda sad. We’ll carry on later.

To. be. continued.