A Trip Down Memory Lane

Last Wednesday we headed to Nashville to kick off Thanksgiving. We dropped Jack and Sophie off at Nanna's house and Daniel and I headed to Brentwood for a date. As we drove, I searched for a place to eat and was surprised to discover a Brixx Wood Fired Pizza in the area. I looked it up to see if it was our Brixx, the one that is based out of Charlotte, NC. And sure enough, it was. Evidently they have really expanded and have quite a few locations outside of Charlotte these days.

Once our decision was made, we hurried into the restaurant to escape the rain. As we waited for our food – we always split a Chicken Florentine Pizza – we reminisced about Charlotte...

The very first time we ate at a Brixx restaurant was 10 years ago. We had gone to Charlotte for Daniel's final interview with LandDesign and we were exploring the city. We were young and had no idea what the future held. We had been married for almost 2 years and were trying to determine what would be the best direction for our lives after Daniel graduated. 

We liked Charlotte, it's a beautiful city. We liked the thought of living downtown, within walking distance of Daniel's work. It was a point in our lives where we thought moving away would strengthen and grow our marriage. We didn't know a soul, which was intimidating but also exhilarating. In the end, Daniel accepted the position and we made the move over the mountains.

This meant I had to leave a good position working in the marketing Department of U.S. Stamp and Sign. It meant Daniel went without me to move all of our belongings into storage and pick out an apartment so I could wrap up my job. It meant saying goodbye to so many we loved. But it also meant a fresh start on our own, to figure out our own way in life.

Charlotte had its ups and downs for us. We found a church and small group that we grew to love, but we spent several years feeling lonely. The loneliness helped our marriage to grow as we mostly had each other to rely on, but it was hard.

It's been 10 years since that interview. We have since moved 4 times, purchased 3 houses (Charlotte, Hollywood, Signal Mountain), lived in a camper, lived in hotels, got a dog, had a child, and had many adventures along the way. We lived in Charlotte for 5 years, that's a record for us!

Thank you for the trip down Memory Lane, Brixx!