In the back seat of our family’s red Dodge Caravan, my brother and I had usual sports debates on who was the better quarterback: Donovan McNabb or Steve McNair. The only real argument I had was that McNair played for the team with the better mascot, T-Rac. Solid opinions even back then.
In the middle seats, my sisters Lexus and Mercedes played with Bratz dolls as my mother sat next to her boyfriend at the wheel. “Meet in the Middle” by Diamond Rio blared in the car. It was my mother’s favorite song that summer of 2005.
We were on our way to Lake Winnie, the first time I laid eyes on the Scenic City.
“It was a bigger Cowan,” I thought to myself once out of the car and staring at the line of mountains surrounding the city. We met up with our cousins at Lake Winnie, the side of our family from Sewanee, Monteagle and Cowan, Tenn.
We had a great time that day at Lake Winnie. I mustered the courage to ride the Cannonball and rode the carousel with my cousins.