Charlotte

First off I’m sorry for my absence from the blog.  At first I was just being lazy about uploading pictures, then I had a crazy week at work and now I’m fighting a head cold. All great excuses, I know.

Pittsburgh, PA - Picture from Google Images

Anyhow, my mom posted this morning on FB that 25 years ago today we moved from Pittsburgh, PA to Charlotte, NC.  I knew we moved in February, but I guess it never dawned on me to ask the exact date.   I was 5 years old when we moved and I remember being extremely excited.  I can just barely recall my parents telling my sister and me that we were moving from to Charlotte, NC.  We were in our old family room & there was some speech, but it ended in them telling us we were going to live in the south.  I remember jumping up and down and being thrilled about the idea of living somewhere new.  Not because I  didn’t like Pittsburgh, but because I was 5 and that’s how 5 year olds think.  We did live in a beautiful area   of Pittsburgh and I didn’t know how lucky we actually were to call that home.  Heck, some of our notable neighbors were Bill Cowher, Teresa Heinz Kerry and David Newell (the mailman from Mr. Rogers Neighborhood – I actually assumed he was our mailman too.  It’s okay to be jealous of my smarts). 

When we moved to Charlotte we had to say Charlotte, North Carolina, because no one knew where this “new south city” was located.  A lot of people would say stuff like “Oh, Charlottesville…”.  No, not Charlottesville, that’s located in Virginia.  There’s a major university located there people.  Then people would often say “I love Charleston…”.  Again, Charleston is located in South Carolina and that city is on the water.  I guess this still happens to an extent.  A few years ago I was a recruiter for a small private University located in Charlotte.  I traveled to college fairs and High School in TN, WVA, OH and PA.  Often people would say the same things.

I guess when we arrived in Charlotte in 1987 things were quite different.  The public school system was a mess. The city was growing too quickly and had serious growing pains. There was an aversion to people like my parents (yankees) with their children (gd yankees).  People drove four hours away to Atlanta to go shopping.  Some may argue that things are still the same 30 years later.  I would say, however, that our city is a great city with beautiful trees, welcoming people and great shopping.

Charlotte, NC - Picture from Google Images

It should be noted that I did a google image search for the Charlotte skyline in 1987 and came up with nada.

When I was in college I visited a lot of different parts of the state that I had never seen before.  I often times found myself thinking how stinking beautiful our state was.   I’m sure other people think their state is beautiful, but North Carolina is definitely something special.  We have the mountains, beaches , and the rolling hills of the piedmont.  We have GREAT public universities with serious basketball history.  Who your ACC team is says a lot about the person that you are.  

There are times when I get the itch to move somewhere different or more exotic.  I should clarify that exotic to REF and me would be some place like, let’s say Chicago or Austin.  Don’t get carried away, okay.   The bottom line though is that we’ll probably stay in Charlotte, because we love it here and this city is our home.

{ 1 comment }