Spring in the Carolinas

March 28, 2007 by enchantingsunshine.

This is a glorious time of year in the Carolinas. The weather is warm and inviting, there’s no humidity, things are starting to bloom. The entrance to my subdivision is lined with Bradford Pears. They’re ornamental trees that developers use because they grow fast. Unfortunately, they’re also very weak and brittle and break easily under strong winds and summer storms. During the Spring and Fall though, the symmetry of the trees on both sides of the street in bloom is gorgeous. Like they have a small inner voice and tell each other exactly when to bloom, they change in complete synchrony, first the little buds and then a burst of white flowers emerge literally overnight.

It’s hard to not be full of joy when there is such beauty everywhere. There are things that annoy me about my neighborhood. There are a lot of renters and homeowners who feel no obligation to keep up their property. What I love about my neighborhood though is that it is ethnically diverse. I love driving down the main entrance and seeing black, white, Asian, and Hispanic children playing happily together at the foot of a basketball hoop.  I love believing in the hope of the future that my neighborhood is an example of how race and division washes away when people are together, that what matters is character and the connections we make with others.

There have been a few foreclosures in my neighborhood that have sold for frighteningly low prices. Sometimes I’m concerned that our decision to live in an environmentally friendly way living close to where we work in a modest home will backfire and we will lose money on our house. It would be a nice change for a house I own to appreciate. For now though, it’s a great life to have a five minute commute and have evidence every day of America’s ability to embrace multi-culturalism.

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