Driving

It occurred to me I've been in North Carolina for eight months now. Wow, time flies. It's kind of scary that I'm beginning to know my way around and not have to depend on maps as much anymore (at least in Fayetteville; the surrounding areas in which I work, not so much); not scary in that it's bad or frightening, it's just something I've never experienced. I grew up in Chattanooga and knew (mostly) how to get where I wanted to go by the time I was old enough to drive. When I moved to Knoxville for college, I had to learn to navigate in a new town but a couple of years of living on (or very near) campus helped because everything I needed was pretty close. I stayed in Knoxville after college and, though I did occasionally get lost, was pretty confident in my knowledge of the city and surrounding areas by the time I moved. Moving to North Carolina brought about an entirely different experience and I've had so much fun (though not always at the time) getting lost and learning to trust my instincts instead of a map.

I moved into a new place this weekend and all of the feelings surrounding my leaving Tennessee came up again.

Actually, this past month I've been thinking a lot about my move to North Carolina and my journey up to this point. As I was driving through the country (one of my FAVORITE aspects of my job!) on the way home from work the other day, I asked myself what I would think if something happened and I needed to go back to Tennessee. To my surprise, I realized I'm not yet ready to leave North Carolina. I like my life here and I'm having fun on this adventure. That's a rather conflicting realization, considering how much I complain about missing my friends and family in Tennessee and that North Carolina is just too flat and my town too boring.

As much as I complain, (I seriously hope I don't complain that much and this is all in my head), I do enjoy living here and I am glad I came. Then why do I complain? Trying to understand this has become very frustrating because I don't want to complain. I don't want to be that person. I'm not that person! Am I?