Memories

Day 39. Memories.

I've found myself being rather nostalgic the past week or so, remembering my life here in Lexington. It's a great small town, yet close enough to the bigger towns of Thomasville and Salisbury and the city of Winston-Salem that you can indulge in actual culture without going too far from home.

I've actually never lived inside the city limits of any town. Grew up a country girl, and still am. I prefer trees over people, pinecones over asphalt. I've never even lived in an apartment, can't imagine how it would be to share walls with someone else, yikes.

We moved here in 2006, after commuting 150 miles a day for six years. The 15 mile drive to the airport in Winston was nice, while it lasted (thanks, Obama  - jerk.) Then I managed to find a job less than 10 miles from home, so it was still an improvement over the long drive.

We had a really nice older farmhouse, built in the late 50s but completely remodeled, on 5 acres, two wooded and three former pasture. A lot of work during mowing season. After Dave got hurt at work, he couldn't keep up with the mowing or the maintenance, and with the single income things got rough. We ended up doing a short sell and getting out while we could. We took the single-wide we already owned and moved it to the almost three acres here in West Lexington. Much less to maintain, and a third the expense. Something I could handle by myself, which as it turns out, is how it ended up.

Lots of neat little places to go and do things here. Best sushi in the area, a little spot in an old strip mall named Fuji Moro. Hidden gem Cook's is the best barbecue around, and that's something in a town named the BBQ Capital of the World. The Candy Factory uptown has every sweet concoction ever made it seems, including homemade truffles. Daniel Boone State Park is just down the highway from me, it's got lots of nice hiking trails and wildlife. High Rock Lake, the Yadkin River: both have some good fishing.

Sometimes we forget the specialness of our everyday life. The big city seems to draw us like moths, beckoning us with its bright lights and exciting things. But if we look around us, there are miracles right in our backyards. I have a creek that draws a family of deer every fall, I can see them from the back windows. The summer evenings are full of noise from the tree frogs that live in my woods. Today I watched one of the cats stalking a squirrel, luckily he was smart enough to stay up in the oak tree.  When I walked the dogs earlier, I saw a whirlwind catch some brilliant orange leaves from the ash tree at the end of the driveway.

Lesson Thirty Nine: Do you appreciate the things and places around you? Or do you wish for bigger and better? Have you ever really sat down and looked at the area you live in, and thought about how special it might be? Think about what's going on within your area, and realize you might have memories waiting to be made right at home.

691 to go...