Carolina Pride

I'm a very sad North Carolinian this week. I'll just re-post what I wrote on Facebook shortly after Amendment 1 passed, Please remember, come November, when you start complaining that a politician wants to take away your money, religion, or guns, that you took away the right of an entire segment of our state to commit to the person they love. 

However, even though I hang my head in shame at those that voted to do this, I still am proud of where I come from.

And just as a reminder to myself, and, more importantly, to any outsiders who could stumble across this blog, there are so many wonderful things about North Carolina. Here are some great things about the state and some of my favorite things:

• Barbecue—Western and Eastern (Though Eastern is better.) 
• UNC v. Duke—The greatest basketball rivalry in the country
• Pepsi—Born in New Bern
• Krispy Kreme—Born in Winston Salem
• Bojangles—Headquartered in Charlotte
• Every UNC player who ever wore the jersey, even if they aren't from here. (And even the ones who left early.) 
• Michael Jordan , Richard Petty, Josh Hamilton, Julius Peppers, and Roy Williams
• James Taylor and Ava Gardner 
• Charles Kuralt and Edward R. Murrow 
• James K. Polk and Andrew Johnson 
• Dolly Madison 
• Thomas Wolfe
• Bill Friday—Education pioneer 
• Jim Hunt—The education governor 
• Johnny Grant—Honorary mayor of Hollywood and from my hometown!
• Erskine Bowles—Has worked for multiple presidents
• Nicholas Sparks and every one of his books, which take place here
• Sarah Dessen
• The mountains
• The beach
• Tobacco (Sorry, but if you've ever enjoyed a cigarette, it may have originated in NC.) 
• The First Flight taken by the Wright Brothers
• Dogwood trees and Bradford pear trees in bloom on a spring day 
• Duke Chapel and Duke Gardens
• When a little snow shuts down a whole town 
• A field covered in snow, as far as the eye can see 
• A sudden summer rainstorm 
• The way my neighborhood smells on a Saturday after everyone's been cutting grass 
• Hunkering down with your family during a hurricane 
• And helping a neighbor clean up afterward 
• Jordan Lake and the bald eagle preserve
• The Battleship North Carolina 
• Wilmington—Filming location of Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill (and more)
• A field full of fluffy cotton, waiting to be picked 
• Bright yellow fruit stands on the side of the road and their misspelled signs 
• Getting stuck behind a tractor driving down the road at 10 mph 
• Old tobacco barns 
• Illegal fireworks on the 4th of July 
• Lightning bugs 
• Chapel Hill on a spring day
• Chapel Hill on a summer day 
• Chapel Hill on a fall day 
• Chapel Hill on a winter day 
• Chapel Hill every day 
• Roanoke Colony—First English attempt to colonize America 
• Virginia Dare—First child born in the Americas 
• The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse 
• The Cape Lookout Lighthouse 
• All the lighthouses 
• Where Blackbeard the pirate chose to settle down. (Maybe I shouldn't brag about that one.) 
• Wildflowers on the side of the highway 
• Cherry lemon sun drop 
• Pine trees everywhere
• Riding down winding roads in the country, surrounded by trees, occasionally passing a stream or a deer
• Old family cemeteries in the middle of a field

This is not an exhaustive list. And these are only the things I could recall without having to do additional research.