I have decided to move back home to Maryland. I have had a wonderful 3 years in Memphis, but realized that it’s more important to live with your family and friends rather than in a city you love – plus I’ve spent all my money. I don’t regret moving to Memphis or spending all of my money because I’ve done so many fantastic things that I never would have done if I had stayed in Maryland.

I wanted to live in Memphis, so 3 years ago I quit my good job and sold my nice house in Maryland and moved. I was finally living where I vacationed and where I loved. I moved to a house 5 minutes from Sun Studio and 10 minutes from Graceland. I worked for a while at the National Civil Rights Museum earning a small wage. Then I decided to quit and just enjoy living in Memphis, which I did immensely. I visited all the local museums, ate at all my favorite restaurants, got yearly passes at Graceland and the Zoo, and bought season tickets to the Memphis Grizzlies. I became friends with a great local singer named Nancy Apple. I attended annual local festivals and local movie screenings, such as Footloose, Johnny Cash’s America and Daylight Fades. I went to the annual Blues Ball, Who Shot Rock n Roll photography exhibit at the Brooks Museum of Art, the opening reception for the Elvis: from Memphis to Manhattan exhibit at Stax Museum, the famous HiTone music venue, the Arts Memphis Bravo season kickoff party featuring the Bluff City Backsliders, WEVL’s annual Blues on the Bluff featuring the BoKeys, Marshall Grant’s (Johnny Cash’s bassist) final performance and book signing at the Brooks Museum of Art, and the Memphis Roller Derby.

I took day trips to the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in Jackson, TN, the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, AR, Elvis’ birthplace in Tupelo, MS, and the casinos in Tunica, MS. I visited Johnny Cash’s childhood home in Dyess, AR and Jerry Lee Lewis’ current home in Nesbit, MS. I spent a weekend in Nashville visting the Ryman, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the Broncos win over the Titans. I took a 5 day road trip through Mississippi visiting the sights in Jackson, Biloxi, Vicksburg, Greenwood and Clarksdale. I took a 10 day road trip out west along route 66 through Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico then toured all around Texas on the way back visiting sights in Lubbock, San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas – and then Shreveport, LA. I finally made it to Chicago (and Wrigley Field), and have been 3 times since it’s only an 8 hour drive from Memphis. Then of course there was the 3 month road trip back and forth across the America to all the U2 shows in the US.

Besides all these wonderful places I’ve visited and great things I’ve done because I moved to Memphis, it was in Memphis that I discovered that I loved to write. I started this blog to share all of my activities and travels and then starting writing for Examiner.com about events in Memphis. This led to my second blog On the Road with U2 about all of my travels on the U2 tours, which led to me writing my U2 Tours Memoir. Now I’m trying to find a job writing, so I can make a living doing what I love to do.

I’ve done everything I set out to do when I moved to Memphis. It’s been a great 3 years. I don’t have to ever look back and wonder ‘what if’ because I did it. Now it’s time to go back home to Maryland to be with my family and friends and hopefully make a living as a writer, but you can still call me Memphis Mullen.