This is my first time in Louisville, and even though I’ve been here less than a day, I know I could fall in love with this city.
The best thing about getting out of town is that it shakes up my routine. Going to another city also forces me to look at things differently. I’m out of my element, so everything is new.
Because of this, here are 3 New Life Lessons I’ve Learned In Less Than 24 Hours In Louisville:
1) When choosing a coffee shop in a new city, pick the closest coffee shop that isn’t a Starbucks.
I love coffee shops, so when I arrived in Louisville yesterday, the first thing I did was try to find the best nearby coffee shop.
There were a lot of excellent options. An excellent coffee shop is nice, but I wanted to go to the perfect coffee shop! I spent more than two hours trying to find the most perfect coffee shop within walking distance.
I took so long trying to find the most perfect coffee shop by the time I made my decision, I didn’t have time to get a cup of coffee.
Next time I am going to the closest coffee shop that isn’t a Starbucks.
It’s just coffee. Most coffee is the same, and there’s a limit on how good coffee can get. It’s the ambiance and the staff’s personality that I’m looking for anyway.
Lesson learned.
2) I want to live in a city that, as a city, is emotionally secure.
Louisville is a city perfectly content with being itself, which is rare.
When I moved to Austin in 2007, people in Portland were trying to make Portland the next Austin. When I moved to Nashville in 2020, people in Nashville kept saying, “I hear that Nashville is just like Austin.” It is not.
After less than a day, I can tell Louisville is the most Austin-like city outside of Austin I’ve ever been to.
I moved to Austin during an era that I would call “the tail end of Austin being cool” I’ve heard from people that live in Austin during the “cool times” that Louisville reminds them of Austin when Austin was cool.
But Louisville isn’t trying to be like Austin because it’s too busy being Louisville. Louisville doesn’t want to be another city. A city that wants to be another city has city envy, and that’s just sad.
I want to always live in a city like Louisville that’s free of city envy because no one likes a city that doesn’t like itself.
3) Never take an old dog on a long-ish walk, especially if you’re also an “old dog.”
This morning I finally made it to my first coffee shop in Louisville, but instead of being a pleasant experience, the walk there was a harrowing adventure.
I was headed to Sunergos Coffee, half a mile from where I’m staying. I thought it would be a fun morning walk with my dog Dexter. I couldn’t have been more wrong!
I should have known that this was a bad idea.
Dexter is a slow-walking, stick-legged, 16-year-old terrier mix with a dubious disposition. I’m nearly 60, have a couple of legs riddled with MS and a belly that is the result of a lifetime of poor food choices. We were quite the sight walking through the streets of Louisville this morning.
My walk with Dexter would better be described as a drag rather than a walk.
Both Dexter and I managed to remain upright through the whole ordeal. As I stumbled along the time-worn sidewalks of Louisville, I was pulling Dexter behind me like a stubborn mule.
Tomorrow morning we are going to Safai Coffee, a Louisville coffee show conveniently right around the corner.
So those are the 3 Life Lessons I’ve learned so far; I’m sure there will be more.
As long as we live, life will keep teaching us lessons. Some lessons are bigger than others, but all lessons are important. Don’t you agree?
I love you all, and I hope you have a wonderful day!
