Carolina On My Mind

You don't always appreciate the beauty in common places that surrounded you during the wonder years. And even the parts that were only part of a normal day come back to haunt you with a little sadness and nostalgia, just because that's the world you were first exposed to, and it's part of you. Like 24 hour a day Southern accents, brick houses and driveways that didn't end 6 inches from the street.

Charlotte, NC is a pretty town with all of its magnificent tree lined streets. The quiet place in your mind reserved for your finest inner photo album wakes up as you drive down Queens Road, with the canopies of oaks stretching across it forming an ancient tent of the ages.

Instead of envisioning what the land might have looked like before a developer bulldozed through, the streets, the houses, dogwood trees and azaleas actually fit together and you can't imagine the suburban or downtown landscape any other way.

It's ironic that a wild child, brilliant writer, Slupee Queen, and adventure-lover I met in Sarasota when I moved from Charlotte some 17 years ago now lives in Charlotte with her husband and little girl. I'm looking forward to hanging out with them this week and driving around the town, up to South Mountains State Park for one hell of a hike, and relaxing in some childhood memories. Served up on Thursday morning, with a Delta flight out of our local "international" airport.

Where did you grow up?