About the blog title: I was born and raised in the great state of Mississippi, and I love it dearly. But you can't stay always in one place, or at least I couldn't, and in 2002 I moved to New Mexico to pursue a career in newspaper reporting. I should say that's all I thought I was doing. As it turned out, I also met the man I married, Dan, and ended up becoming a bona fide New Mexico resident when Dan took a job in Albuquerque. To my great surprise, I really do love it here and I am so thankful for God's provision in my life, which has certainly been more exciting and creative than I imagined when I left home. (Isn't it always?) But living 1500 miles away from family and friends leaves me with plenty of opportunities to miss home and the ability to have those quick, spontaneous conversations that make friendships so enjoyable.
In the last five years, I have become a champion long-distance customer and expect that Sprint and AT&T will be calling me about a corporate sponsorship any minute now. But until then, it occurred to me that a blog might be a nice way to keep people at home and friends elsewhere up to speed on what's going on with me. Not that this is the stuff of action movies, but in reality it's missing out on the little things that makes it so hard to move away. Thus, the title. It's not meant to express any great dissatisfaction with my life as a "Dixie exile" but rather as a way to make me feel a little closer to home, and, hopefully, to make those at home feel a little closer to me; sort of a window into my world.