I Like Calling North Carolina Home!

I have had a wonderful weekend.  I have had good times with extended family, enjoyed every minute with my boy, gotten a chance to rest a bit, and had a taste of winter.  I have also had a chance to deepen my appreciation for North Carolina and the South in general.

When we took off from Greensboro on Friday I had a window seat and I was hoping to get a peek at our house.  We live close to the airport and I have had brief glimpses of it from the air before.  The traffic pattern was different on Friday though, and we took off in the opposite direction.  It was cloudy and so it was not long before the clouds blotted out my view of the ground, but before that happened, I got a glimpse of neighborhoods arranged below me in gentle curves.   Later, when we broke out of the clouds to land in Detroit, the contrast was stark.  There were houses as far as I could see, each with its small patch of yard and lined up in rows so that the ridge lines of all the roofs lined up perfectly.

Matt picked us up at the airport and I crawled into his back seat.  I only sat for a minute or two before I realized my posterior was becoming cold and damp.  He had scraped the snow off his car that morning with a HUGE, long-handled device, the like of which I have never seen before and apparently, after completing its task, it had shed the leftover moisture onto the seat.  Welcome to winter.

It was sunny when we arrived, but we woke up to snow on Saturday.  It was really pretty.  Unlike we wimpy Southerners who take up residence by the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate and consider ourselves to be “snowed in” as soon as the first flake “sticks,” Northerners simply go about their business.  They treat snow the same way we treat rain.  It is a messy inconvenience.

It was fun to see the way Matt has adjusted.  Born in Texas, raised in North Carolina, he hates cold.  He never even saw snow until he was almost six.  He spent about half an hour in it, came into the house and pronounced his evaluation:  “It is cold and wet and I don’t like it.”  His opinion never changed.  Now, he shovels the snow, drives in the snow and understands the snow.  He told us yesterday not go outside and step in the newly fallen blanket of white.  “If you step on it, it’s harder to get off,” he said sagely.  I don’t think he likes it yet, but he isn’t going to let it win, either.  I like that.

I have watched the moms with little children this weekend. Having babies and toddlers here is even more complicated than at home.  Heavy jackets, gloves, hats, sweaters, etc. all have to be shed, stored and re-applied every time they go anywhere.  Kudos to them.  I think I would just stay at home.

Besides all of the issues with the snow, it’s just plan cold.  The wind goes right through your coat and makes being outside a misery.  Then, when you go in, you are too warm unless you remove a layer or two.  This makes the in-between times, like waiting for  pick-up at the airport for example, either uncomfortable or inconvenient.  If you take it off, you’ve got to keep track of it all and if you leave it on, you sweat.  Yes, I am a spoiled southerner.  I like my mild sunny homeland.  It was fun, Michigan, and you are really pretty in the summer, but home is best.