Life in Tennessee – GringoPotpourri

Hungry, Hungry Hippos

I survived my surgery.

Of course I did! Those of you who’ve been following this blog may recall that I was due to have surgery to remove an anomaly on my parathyroid, a quartet of glands near the throat that control calcium distribution throughout the human body (you can read my last post here). The parathyroidectomy was performed at Vanderbilt on September 16^thwith minimal pain afterwards (much to my relief). I still have occasional discomfort that feels like a sore throat; a steri-strip bandage remains over the stitching, said to fade in time. And good news: doctors were able to save my thyroid itself, which means no unexpected weight gain, squeaky voice, or hormonal imbalance.

And yet as I write this, I’m on day 15 of a post-op hospital stay. So what happened?

Four Grains of Rice

The above picture, taken peak-pandemic, circa April, 2021, finds your favorite gringo blogger struggling to wake up and greet the day. Post-morning fart, with noteworthy bedhead and spectacular beardage courtesy of local hair salons being shuttered due to coronavirus, I blearily imbibe coffee. I don’t recall what prompted me to stage this photo, but I remember those uncertain months and that very, very long spring, when hoarding toilet paper became a stock-in-trade and when hand sanitizer was seemingly more valuable than a pot of gold.

Fast forward a little more than five years, and no one talks about the pandemic anymore—almost as if it never happened. As for yours truly, I’ve moved to Knoxville and am five months into a new job with a company that genuinely values its employees. I still have that bathrobe and coffee mug, as well as the facial hair. The beard is less unkempt, though speckled with lots of gray. Beneath each eye: matching crow’s feet, or laugh lines, if you will.

Also, I’m two inches shorter than I was when this picture was taken.

A Rare Gringo Sighting

When last we spoke, I was going on six weeks of having lost my job and was ~500 pages deep into writing my first novel. I wrote about visiting family in Memphis, TN, about road trips to Savannah, GA and Hilton Head Island, SC, and about hikes taken along the Blue Ridge National Parkway, NC. Though less than a year has passed since that post, it seems like yesterday and ages ago at the same time.

Where the Heck Has the Gringo Been?!?!

¡Felices fiestas! Happy Holidays! It has nine months since my last blog post, and while I don’t exactly get a surplus of messages asking for more content, I figured those of you who consider yourself Loyal Readers may wonder what the heck I’ve been up to. The answer – that I’ve been up to quite a lot but also not much at all – may seem contradictory, so bear with me as I explain.

Remembering Molly

It has been one month since I lost my best friend.

I am talking, of course, about Molly, the world’s best golden retriever, who died unexpectedly while supposedly on the mend from a bladder infection.

We mourn the passings of our beloved fur babies because they are in our lives for such a short period of time, and because they ask us for so little, yet give so much affection in return. I grew up with dogs from infancy, and, like my parents and sister, have always treated them like part of the family. They sleep inside, not out (and on our beds much of the time). They have Christmas stockings and receive birthday cards. They go with us on family vacations.

But Molly was even more special. She was the love of my life.

Continue reading “Remembering Molly”

Greetings from the Nadir

It was six months ago this month when I announced my intentions to more or less hang up my blog hat, so to speak. The post had a “goodbye-but-hopefully-not-forever” tone about it, and I did hint at the end that I may pop up every now and again with the occasional update. Aside from today’s entry, and from my February 18^th Oscar predictions post – an annual rite of passage that began in 2012, all has otherwise been silent on the blogging front.

I still send the occasional Tweet courtesy of my @gringopotpourri feed, although ceasing production on the blog while simultaneously suspending my Facebook account all but derailed any substantial Twittersphere engagement.

All of that having been said, I thought I’d pop up from the void to let you know that I am still alive and well.

Continue reading “Greetings from the Nadir”

Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen

The time has come to say goodbye.

It has been over six years since I started this blog. It has been a fun ride, blogging about Mexico City, Tennessee, travel in general, various top ten lists, and life’s strange journey. Posts have run the gamut, from Kilimanjaro climbing adventures to “Where am I?” guessing games to humorous musings on our last presidential election to emotional tell-alls in the weeks leading up to my mom’s passing in 2016.

But the all-things-Scott experience that is GringoPotpourri has run its course, and it seems that I have no more stories to tell. Okay, so that’s not entirely accurate. I have a million stories to tell, but this blog no longer provides the format that I need to tell my stories the way they need to be told.

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Thanksgiving Reflections – 2017

My, what a crazy year this has been.

Thanksgiving is normally a time for introspection and reflection, for remembering everything that you have in your life, and for spending the day – or at least the afternoon – with friends and family.

I will be spending my Thanksgiving alone.

This is probably for the best.

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2016: A Year to (Not) Remember

It has been four years since I made a year-in-review post such as the one you’ve just started reading. But 2016 has been an interesting year. I was promoted twice, took a few day trips, and bought a car. On the other hand, my mom passed away, as did countless artists and celebrities, all of them before their time. Additionally, my general stress level seemed to increase tenfold. There have been times, during these last two months in particular, when it seemed as if 2016 would never end.

2016 highlights and lowlights

What a year it’s been!

Continue reading “2016: A Year to (Not) Remember”

Onward and Upward: Four Years of Blogging

November has, thus far, been rife with disappointment. On a personal level, I have slowly been making peace with my mother’s passing, less than two months ago, while weathering a relationship break-up that felt like a sucker punch. Regarding the former, it took several weeks to even register the fact that my mom was gone. As for the latter, I’ve been trying to assess what I must have done wrong, but am slowly coming to the conclusion that I will never know for sure. All I can say is that I haven’t been sleeping well.

On the world stage – and for the second occurrence in my lifetime – the better candidate for the United States Presidency won the popular vote but lost the election. And the other day, I logged onto social media to learn that one of my favorite mood poets, Leonard Cohen, had passed away at age 82.

At times like these, I tend towards the melancholy. I spent much of yesterday doing some archiving and came across a few blog posts from 2013. I realized that it was Election Day, 2012, when I moved to Mexico City and established gringopotpourri.com. My blog has changed a lot over the years. For one thing, the writing is better now than it was then. Darker, perhaps, but also better. The regionality of the content has also shifted from being mostly Mexico-focused to being largely Tennessee-focused.

To “celebrate” my blog’s four-year anniversary, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite posts for you, along with comments on how those posts either came to be or how they hold up today. And as always: Thanks for reading!

Continue reading “Onward and Upward: Four Years of Blogging”