At one point I said to him, "You should really just move to Nashville." Long story short, the ex-wife isn't very nice and there were quite a few missed visits with the daughter because of mom's shenanigans. He thought about it and decided to move to Nashville (he'd lived there before).
The next question I was asked was if I would go with him.
Hmm.
That was a tough question.
I'm a native of Cincinnati, and it's the only place I've ever lived. All of my family and friends are there. I was very active in the theatrical community and I had an agent to represent me for TV and film. I also had a good job, fifteen years at a good company, a house, and two dogs to uproot. And I was being asked to leave all of that for...something better? What?
I am not a big fan of change, but I have come to realize that it is inevitable and it's best to embrace it when it is right behind you and moving in fast.
Finally, one night my significant other asked me what it would take to get me to move. We are committed to each other, but both of us have been married twice before and his last marriage was a long, drawn out, bitter and nasty event. I am also in no hurry to get married again, so the promise of matrimony wasn't part of the plan. But other than just moving myself and all my crap, and leaving family and friends behind without knowing anyone else in "The South", all I could do was tell him what it would really take to get this Black Jewish woman to move south of the Mason-Dixon line was this:
He said that he could do that, so I now have this ring. People ask me what it means. It's a promise ring, the promise being to be with me forever. Does it sound naive and/or romantic? So what if it does? The next thing I would like to do, besides get a job, is find a good synagogue. And yes, Virginia, there are Jews in Nashville.
