Years ago I used to drive through North Carolina as I ferried the children from Virginia to Atlanta, where I deposited them with their father, who had driven from Alabama to Atlanta to pick them up. The trip was 4 hrs more or less for each of us and it was a fine compromise.
On the return trip, sans children, I often took my time and wandered here and there on the way back to Virginia. North Carolina always seemed to be such a cordial and pleasant place. I loved Virginia, and still miss it, having moved away only for a job opportunity, but North Carolina had a certain Southern-ness and cordiality that somehow seemed lacking in VA. VA is a great state, one of the first 13 colonies, and those who live there are immensely proud of that. It is great altogether, and that may be what distinguishes it from NC. NC is just happy to be a pretty small, and pretty nice, state. People here are moderate, the weather is moderate, and it's pretty hard to be disagreeable in such a moderate environment.
I was pondering this, this afternoon, in lovely 76 degree weather, as I dug, potted, and hauled clippings to behind-the-shed in preparation for our little dinner party tomorrow night. The birds definitely seem to sing louder here, the sky is definitely bluer, Carolina blue, in fact, and people are just so darned polite. We have the mountains on one side, the shore on the other, and the lovely piedmont in-between. We have just enough history to feel relevant but aren't so steeped in it that there seems to be no tomorrow.
I have enjoyed every location in which I have lived, but I really enjoy Carolina and feel fortunate to live here.
Hope I still feel the same way Wednesday, when we see how the Carolinians voted.
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