Sleeping with Jesus

Nashville was probably on my top five list for cities I had wanted to visit in the U.S. So, it was with great excitement that I abandoned all hopes of finding anything interesting in Indianapolis. We arrived in the city at around 3pm and decided to grab a drink before we headed to the home of our hosts for the evening Maria and Reza. Having met in college in OK city Maria was my mom’s college roommate while Reza was my mother’s cousin. They had borrowed my mom’s car one fateful day 30s years ago and got hitched at city hall.

The next 30 years were spent between Maria’s home state of Texas and Nashville which they called home. The family was kind enough to introduce me to what my mother had raved about for years having spent her college days in the Midwest, Tex Mex. Dripping in gooey cheesy goodness Justin and I ate a delicious meal of Shrimp Fajita in the company of what I will classify as the world’s nicest family. Worn from the day's driving they put us up in their spare room. It wasn't more than five minutes that Justin and I fell asleep in our twin beds with a portrait of Jesus separating us.

The next day accompanied by Parsa and Saman (my second cousins), we headed to downtown Nashville to take a peek into Hatch Show Print. I can’t say the thought of seeking employment there and abandoning our travel plans, did not cross my mind. Who can turn down walls upon walls of catalogued hand carved type and fat cats who sleep around the office all day.
After a quick lunch stop at Justin’s college place of employment, Mellow Mushroom, we were off to Alpharetta, Georgia which would act as home for the following weeks.

Ahhh, the life of a gypsy.

One of Hatch Show's hardest working employees.

The library.

The Machines.

Saman, Parsa and I in Downtown Nashville.