Goodbye, Indiana! I’ll miss my friends and family, but I won’t miss you, your stupid winter in April, itchy cornfields or itchier Colts fans. Because Morgan loves me so, so much and for some reason will put up with my constant whining, I am pleased to officially announce our departure. After we get married in June, Morgan and I are moving to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Morgan is blessed to have her dream job as an Operating Room nurse and I get to live out my childhood obsession of living in Alabama.

From my earliest memories as a kid to recent college courses, I have always introduced myself as being from Alabama. Which is a lie, I’m sorry if I ever told you otherwise. Seriously though. I told people in my college classes a lie about where I was from because I love Alabama that much. I think I developed an origin story in the 1^st grade of how I ended up in Indiana. Six-year-old Chris was already making up stories. Who knows if anyone ever believed me. I even listed Tuscaloosa as my home on my original Facebook account.

My mother and her parents moved from Tuscaloosa to Fort Wayne in the 60s. After she married my dad, the two of them moved back to Tuscaloosa, where they lived for several years. Oddly enough, my parents moved back to Indiana because my grandmother offered my dad $200. They accepted, and spent the money before they got to Indiana. And now, over 25 years later, the Tulley’s are returning to Tuscaloosa. (Dad, if you see this, I will accept $250, plus gas.)

As a child, every single vacation we took was back to Alabama. My parents, Jensen and I would visit my grandfather, my aunts and uncles, my cousins and all the people my parents loved from their pasts.

To say I love the state is an understatement. Alabama is hot, it rarely gets a winter and it is so beautiful. I remember being a kid and being obsessed with the red dirt. It is so unlike Indiana, which I have come to hate on a visual level. This last winter, I drove from Warsaw to Indianapolis and was appalled by how dirty and desolate the countryside looked. Indiana is u-g-l-y eight months a year and you cannot convince me otherwise.

Then, there’s the University of Alabama. Is there a better college in all the lands? I have visited this campus at least 25 times in my life, and it continues to get better. Aside from Spider-Man comics and naps, Alabama Football is my life. If you’ve never heard me yell “Roll Tide” you’ve probably never met me. Plus, you already know your boy is getting season tickets to see the Tide win the championship again. All praise Father Nick Saban!

To all our friends and family, we really do love you. I’m crying right now thinking about saying goodbye to my parents and Jensen (and their dog). To my friends from New Haven that I grew up with and my new friends in Winona Lake; I will dearly miss you all. Soon, I will be waking up in my childhood dream, and it’s terrifying. We are moving 12 hours away from our entire livelihoods on a whim. And let me tell you, the idea haunts me at night and keeps me awake. But with Morgatron at my side, I couldn’t be more excited. Honestly.

     Please, anyone and everyone, I want to see you before we leave! Call me, Facebook me, whatever. This is not the end of our friendships. God bless you, and Roll Tide!