Ode to North Carolina

As I posted while we were there, our trip to Plano was not ideal. I threw up everything I'd eaten for the last month, and Tommy ran around to visit apartments without me. But also, we got on the plane to come home and realized the other bad thing about our trip: we didn't even really like Plano all that much! There were plenty of nice apartment complexes, but hardly any of them had any grassy, green space at all (which matters a lot when you have a stir-crazy toddler who loves running around outside). There were no trees ANYWHERE, which seems like a glaring omission when you come straight from North Carolina where you literally see nothing BUT trees while you're driving anywhere. And it seemed like everywhere we went there were just tons of chain restaurants and stores all organized so neatly in this grid street system, and we were aching for the quirkiness of Durham with its winding, name-changing roads and small indie stores and "Keep It Dirty, Durham" bumper stickers. We sat on the plane and both felt depressed about leaving this state that we have grown so attached to over the last four years.

Now, I'm not trying to complain about moving to Plano, because I feel very strongly that we will be happy there, that we will love it there, that we will find out the good things about living there that weren't so obvious on that first disastrous trip. But that apartment-hunting trip made me realize how much we have loved living here in North Carolina. We are so totally comfortable here. I haven't used my GPS to go anywhere in Durham for probably a year (and when we moved here, I was sure I would never be able to do anything without it, ever). I go to Kroger and half of the workers there KNOW ME and ask about Dane when he's not with me. They give Dane balloons for free because they know he loves them and have conversations with me about the flavor of Bluebell ice cream I'm buying. Dane and I have a beautiful little schedule with playdates, Music Makers, library storytimes, and swapping with Indie. We have our favorite restaurants that we talk about going to all the time (El Cuscatleco, Only Burger, Mellow Mushroom--but hey, there's a Mellow Mushroom about a mile from Tommy's office in Plano!). But there are still so many places in Durham we haven't been to that we've wanted to and I feel almost panicky that we are never going to do it and that we will never be back here (because in all seriousness, why would we?).

Durham has been so, so good to us.

Although I am scared for that first year of living in a new place, with no friends and not being comfortable in a new ward and adjusting with Dane this time, I know it will be good. I know we will be happy. I just also know we will miss North Carolina like crazy for a while too.