Chip's sports feature writing brought a wonderful dimension to Williamson County sports coverage and will be missed. The good news is that he will be covering prep sports so I'm sure we'll be seeing Brentwood datelines a lot when he covers Brentwood and Ravenwood high schools along with Brentwood Academy and the other private schools that draw student athletes from our city.
In the meantime, here are Chip's stories today:
- Manning turns corner; Ravenwood junior wins state amateur: http://tinyurl.com/BWManning
- Ex-Raptors coach takes Florida job: http://tinyurl.com/BWRaptor
Dear Abby, Dear Abby I have no complaints....
John Prine is my all-time favorite singer-songwriter bar none. Sometimes I wonder what he would write about life in Brentwood. We'll have to wait and see. But in the meantime, Dear Abby herself has an interesting series of letters today, page 5D of The Tennessean's Life section, that provide a perfect reflection of our life in the bubble.
The topic, living in affluent communities, really hits home. This is a constant source of discussion among my friends, my Parents of Teens Sunday School class, and my family.
Check it out. Would love to know what you think. Don't have the paper? I also found it online at http://www.uexpress.com/dearabby/
I have been on both ends of the spectrum, and living in an affluent community involves more than just whose house is bigger and who's a snob or not. If you don't "have" as much as your friends, it limits how much you, your friends, your kids and their friends can socialize together. Hitting restaurants four times a week or attending fundraiser luncheons that are $50 or $100 a plate may be out of the question. So are $50 concert tickets and $75 hockey tickets. Girls weekends in Atlanta or spring break trips to the Caribbean aren't just a few phone calls away. If you're watching your budget, $3,000 school trips to Europe are not a given. Neither is Disney twice a year. So shared experiences with your "richer" friends can be few and far between. Sure, you can do free stuff together and bond through a book group or Bible study. Yes, volunteering at a soup kitchen reminds you of your own blessings. But it doesn't change the fact that a limited budget means you have to limit yourself, even when it seems others never have to, and maintain the constant, exhausting gut check you go through whenever your friend or your kid's friend gets something or goes somewhere new.
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