It was three years ago that I wrote my final “Amid the Clutter” column for The Leader Enterprise. I reread that column this morning and discovered I had tossed around … and dismissed … the possibility of continuing to write a column from my new home in Nashville, Tennessee. I reasoned that The Leader is, and ought to be, a “hometown” newspaper. What I failed to realize is that just because you live far from home you are never too far from your hometown.
So here I sit at my computer in Nashville, writing a column for The Leader. After spending almost a quarter of a century writing for The Leader, it is almost like coming home.
Since Barb and I are living in the Nashville area, not far from our son Grant, let me start out by catching you up on our transition to the Music City.
True retirement didn’t stick. I taught for a year, and now I substitute teach and work part of the year as a professional test evaluator, grading essay exams for states across the country. Barb works part-time for the Nashville Visitors and Convention Bureau where she can talk to strangers to her heart’s content.
But Nashville is also an entertainment mecca and it is easy to be pulled in. Barb and I did not retire to Nashville to become “stars,” but, alas, if that is what you are destined to be, you may as well let your life shine!
Barb and I both sing in groups that regularly (well, once a year) sell out arenas all around the country. I never knew what a thrill it could be to sing in front of ten thousand screaming fans. Am I kidding? No way! We both sings in barbershop choruses that rank among the best in the world, and best in the world choruses draw some big crowds. Barb’s chorus released a new CD last week, and I was all over Nashville television in May with a close-up spot in a commercial for my chorus’s annual show at Vanderbilt University.
And I have a movie coming out next year! I am just an extra (as is Grant), but I AM in a movie. We already have invitations to the red carpet world premiere next spring.
Last week Barb and I were invited to a VIP reception where we mingled with the likes of Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman. Okay, Barb won those tickets, but we were VIPs for a day! We sing in church choir with a co-star of the movie “Country Strong” and one of Nashville’s top music video directors.
Last month Grant had a photo spread in “Nashville Lifestyles” magazine.
Yes, we found our retirement niche in Nashville.
But this column isn’t about me ... although I may throw in some tidbits now and then. “Far from Home” is hopefully going to be a monthly feature about folks who once called Montpelier home, but whose lives have taken them in another direction … far from home.
One of those people is former Montpelierite Amy Dohm Myers. Amy graduated from Montpelier in 1990, grew up attending First United Methodist Church, and was Miss Montpelier 1990.
She also lives just down the road from Barb and me in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee.
Amy grew up taking advantage of all the good things small town life has to offer. Athletically, she was always a cheerleader. Musically, she played flute in the band, sang in the chorus and Locomotion, and appeared in the high school musicals (“Music Man,” “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” and “The Sound of Music”).
Amy said that all of those high school activities, and the good education she got at MHS, prepared her for her transition of college. “I went to Ball State, and suddenly I was all alone. None of my high school friends were there. But doing all of those things in high school gave me a lot of confidence, and it really helped when I got to college.” She graduated with a degree in deaf education … with honors … and has since earned her master’s degree at Grand Canyon University.
Married to her husband Tim, Amy started her career as a special education teacher in Indiana. (In the interview she graciously said my wife Barb, who spent her career teaching special education at MHS, was someone who inspired her to enter the field).
Three children later (Mariah, Jacob, and Addison) and with the upwardly mobile career of her husband, Amy taught in several school districts in Indiana, from small towns (which she says she loved the best) to a school right outside of Chicago.
And last fall the family ended up in Tennessee. “I love the Nashville area. The weather is great, and the people are so friendly. We have found we really enjoy and take advantage of all the readily available activities.”
And like everyone down here, she has met and has seen the “regular side” of some celebrities, including American Idol singer Bo Bice and members of the Oak Ridge Boys.
Now at home in Tennessee, Amy is again teaching special education at the high school where Mariah and Jacob attend, and she is hoping to attend Middle Tennessee State University to pursue an education specialist degree.
“I don’t get back to Montpelier very often,” she explained, “but my mom still lives in Bryan, so I do make it back to Williams County from time to time.”
And while she says her family loves it here in Tennessee, she does indeed sometime feel far from home. “I still miss that slow moving and relaxed life.”
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