Roots Here

For obvious reasons, I spend a lot of time talking about Greensboro in this blog. What there is to do here, why you should come visit, how you can be more involved in the city. For many of you, Greensboro is your home. You may have grown up here or you may have moved here later for a job or a spouse or just because you heard it's a fun place. So, when I am trying to think of ideas to share with all of you, I incidentally find myself saying, "What do people who live in Greensboro want to read about?"

Now this question is a little more difficult for me to answer than you might expect. I grew up not too far away in High Point, but have never actually live in Greensboro. For those of you who have been to High Point, or live there now, you will understand that many of us have a love/hate relationship with the place. I walked to high school. Uphill. In the snow. True story. I had classes with basically the same forty people most of my years in public school. I remember when Starbucks opened and it was essentially the same as if Mall of America had opened up on Main Street. I doubt few other people have uttered the phrase, "Let's meet at Starbucks to pre-game and then go to the party," in their lives. Where else can you go downtown and see both a building shaped like a dresser and one shaped like a boat complete with a drawbridge going over a pond. You can't make this stuff up.

By the time I was about to graduate high school these things that many consider to be "small town charm" made me want to vomit. I was prepared to punch someone if I had to hear, "Oh High Point...isn't that where they have all the furniture?," one more time after I told someone where I was from. So I went off to the beautiful University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and made a new home for myself with no real intention of ever living anywhere else again.

Now in a strange turn of events, I find that I am in the process of moving to Greensboro and back to the Triad. Which means that recently I have spent a lot of time thinking about and visiting my first home. And it is so weird how different my perspective is. I love driving past my old house, which before it was mine, was the childhood home of my dad's best friend. I am grateful that I am never lost when I am trying to get somewhere, and that no matter where I am going, it only takes five minutes. I laugh to know that my elementary school still has a self-portrait I drew in the second grade hanging in its hallway. It makes me so happy that when I make plans with old friends I know off the top of my head exactly where their house is as well as their home phone number. As I was reminded yesterday, I have roots here.

So now I need to know what makes Greensboro home to you. What experiences do I need to have? What places do I need to visit? What restaurants do I need to eat at? To bring all of this full circle, what do people in Greensboro want to read about? Give it some thought and then let me know so I can start sharing your home with you!