Dear Charlotte

My dear Charlotte,

Even though I've only known you for a few weeks,  I am enamored with your soft, southern accent and with your gentile persona.  I love how the morning sun shines on your face and the warmth I feel in my heart when I see you.  Oh dear Charlotte, I think I'm in love...

 Now this is what I imagined the "South" to be.   We made our escape from the I-95 corridor on September 11th for what we hoped was going to be a better experience.   Roanoke Rapids was difficult to say the least...and I'll just leave it at that.

So we gladly exchanged the coronary artery disease, diabetes and stroke capital of North Carolina for the "New South"  as Charlotte is known by.   It is the financial and cultural center of the south, and along with Atlanta, is one of the two cities that people come to when they are moving forward with their careers.  Charlotte has more than a half a million folks, but isn't crazy big like L.A. or even San Fransisco.   It instantly reminded me of Seattle,  a place we called home for about 4 years, a lifetime ago.   And maybe it has taken a lifetime to feel like we feel now, alive.   Maybe we had forgotten what the pulse of a big city feels like or how much there is to see and do in the city.  Whatever it is, we have been bitten and are truly in love with this place.

I am working at a fabulous facility in Mt Holly, a bedroom community, about 15 miles west of the city.   The facility is an inpatient rehab center that is a part of the Carolinas Health System.   CHS is the third largest healthcare system in the nation and employs over 28K people in the Charlotte metropolitan area.  I feel very blessed to be a part of such a great medical community and I am enjoying this rehab setting immensely.

But more on Charlotte.   We go out downtown, which is called Uptown, all the time.   There are restaurants, wine bars, pizza joints, breakfasts spots and more to satisfy one's appetite.   There are cool neighborhoods (again, much like Seattle) that all have their own vibe.   There is every kind of convenience that one could possibly need and there are two Trader Joe's grocery stores!   Ahh, civilization.

Can you tell we've been gone for a while?

But don't get us wrong now,  the big city is nice, but we DO live in Montana, and we know the value (and necessity) of open space.   I guess that is the beauty of where we are staying.   We are outside of the city, but only by twenty minutes, and are near some nice open space.  No, it's nothing in comparison to Montana, but it allows us to run the dogs, and we are only two hours from Asheville, NC.   In fact, we took a three-day weekend there just last week and hope to post pics and a story about that trip soon.   But in the meantime, when you think of us,  just think of the sweet smell of honeysuckle and how we may come back with just a hint of a southern accent.

You all take care now.