This government shutdown is Donald Trump's fault.
There. I said it.
Of course, to believe that -- which I do, kinda, but more on that later -- then one must believe that the government shutdown in 2013 was Obama's fault as well.
It is not possible to believe one without the other, and if you're trying, then you're being disingenuous at best, and flat out hypocritical at worst.
Forget, for a moment, because we'll circle back around to it, what issue you support or don't support, and look at what played out. In 2013, Congress had done their job and created a budget, passed it, and sent it along to Obama to sign. He refused to sign it because it did not include funding for Obamacare. The bill otherwise included funding to completely keep the government open and operational, fully and wholly. It simply did not provide the dollars to launch Obamacare. So Obama refused to sign it, and let the government shut down because he didn't get funding for his health care legislation. He then proceeded to build walls around all government installations, parks and monuments. (Weird his love of walls and gates.)
In our current situation, it is slightly different. A bill was created, having the support of both Democrats and Republicans, that did not not have funding for a border wall, and Trump indicated he would not sign it. After Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi notified the world that the House of Representatives did not have the votes to pass a bill that included such funding, the House nevertheless reworked the legislation and indeed passed a bill that included the funding. That bill subsequently died in the Senate, so, as such, Trump does not have a funding bill in front of him to sign, even though he's made clear he won't sign one without border wall funding anyway.
That's the long and short of it. The bottom line is, both Presidents campaigned on a promise, and both Presidents stuck to their guns when times got tough. Obama, of course, among the Liberals and mainstream media is hailed as a hero for doing so. Trump, not so much.
The difference, of course, is that in 2013, as Republicans are wont to do, they bent over for the Democrats and caved, and gave Obama his funding, even though their constituency was clearly against it, and even though all the predictions of the legislation have come true, and Obamacare has proven to be an utter disaster, plunging the country into further longterm debt and dramatically raising the costs of healthcare across the board. (And kicking middle class people like me out of the system.)
In this case, everybody -- and certainly the Democrats -- are fully expecting Trump to cave, as most any other Republican politician would have surely done by now, despite the fact that Trump, from Day 1, has shown time and again he doesn't act or behave as traditional Republicans do. Not only are the Dems once again stunned that he hasn't performed as all the other GOP show ponies usually do, they simply don't know what to do at this point as it becomes clearer and clearer that Trump isn't going to budge.
I did not support the Obamacare legislation. Not because I'm not for affordable, quality healthcare, but because that particular legislation was bad, and way too costly. I'm not going to go into a long diatribe as to why I believe that. I'll just say that it was never created to fix the healthcare issues in this country. It was specifically designed as a political tool to create election-time issues ("The Republicans want to take away your healthcare!" Sound familiar?) As such, I didn't support it (which is why I voted for representatives who promised to oppose it, who ultimately lied to me and all their other voters when they did no such thing.) So, I blamed Obama for the shutdown, and didn't support the cause behind it.
Regardless of how you feel about a border wall -- and regardless of how you feel about Trump, for that matter -- the question must be asked: Why do we want a wall in the first place? It certainly isn't because we're all racists and bigots, which is just absurd on its face. The US welcomes more foreign immigrants into our country legally every year than every other country on the planet. It's not even close. And we've done so virtually since our founding. So to say we don't want immigrants coming to our great country is just stupid.
It's because our immigration system is horribly broken. Dems and Pubs alike agree on that, even if they can't agree on how to fix it. The Dems, of course, want open borders to create more liberal voters. There simply is no other logical reason to oppose a secure border wall. Republicans want to stem the flow of illegals who bring drugs and crime along with them, and causing a financial burden on our country that just makes it harder and more difficult to support those who want to be here legally.
Neither side, however, can agree on how to fix the problem. Meanwhile, thousands of illegals cross the border every month. A wall would stem the tide, for sure, as we then attempt to fix the problem legislatively, although I don't see the Democrats ever compromising on cutting the flow of potential voters.
If it's the cost that's got you down, you might have a point. But then, our government spends money all the time on things it shouldn't be. Certainly on things you or I don't agree with. Our federal government literally gives away our tax dollars every year to literally thousands of projects that should never be funded by our government. Planned Parenthood comes to mind, which, if it is so important, ought to be privately funded. There's enough Hollywood liberals, who support murdering children, who have enough money to keep that organization open indefinitely without ever touching a tax dollar. MY money shouldn't be used to fund abortion.
But then, who gets to decide? Should the government spend more money on cancer research, or autism? Ask the family with an autistic child, and then ask the family who lost their father to lung cancer and I'll bet you'll get two different answers. The point is, if you don't like how your government officials spend our money, then vote for different officials. I know... I know... you didn't vote for Donald Trump. I didn't vote for Nancy Pelosi or Barack Obama. I had better luck the next time. My guy won this time, and I want him to build a wall.
For those of you who earn your livings on government income, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. I truly am. But when you go to work for the government, you have to understand how it all works. You can't make money off the government -- which is to say, off my tax dollars -- and then get mad when the government does what it does. Personally, I'd like to see some of the rules changed. I believe military and other essential government personnel should be paid no matter what. And some actually do during a shutdown, and others don't. There's certainly ways to ensure that those who need to be paid still get paid during a shutdown, but I don't get to make the rules. I can only vote for people who do. I do the best I can.
If you don't want a border wall, fine. You have every right to believe that. And if you have a better idea, I'm all ears. But you have to decide why you really don't want it. Because it can really only boil down to three reasons:
1) If it's because you don't think there's an immigration problem, then you need to wake up and smell the cocaine-laced roses. Every single immigration official will tell you there's a HUGE immigration problem, and we better get it fixed pronto or we're gonna start seeing some real trouble.
2) You want illegal immigrants and non-citizens voting in our elections. If that's the case, shame on you.
3) You hate Donald Trump. If that's the case, you're just being a baby and you need to grow up.
As for me, I'm on your side. I blame Donald Trump for the shutdown, and I support him fully for it.
Monday, January 7, 2019
Thursday, January 3, 2019
President George Herbert Walker Bush
1988 was the first presidential election in which I was of legal age to vote.
I voted for George Herbert Walker Bush.
Growing up in the 80's, it was nearly impossible to be unaware of the popularity of Ronald Reagan. For those who are too young to remember his presidency, and have only heard tell of it as a history lesson, believe me when I tell you, yes, he was that well-liked. Especially after the assassination attempt. The first year of his presidency consisted of most people poking fun that we had an actor as a president, and the doldrums of a lousy economy compliments of one Jimmy Carter. But after John Hinkley tried to kill him with a pistol outside of a D.C. hotel, and the subsequent courage and bravery showed by Reagan to recoup from the attempt, his popularity shot through the roof, and was cemented as his economic policies brought prosperity back to the country.
It wasn't until I was in high school in the last half of the 80's, however, that I began to really get interested in politics in general, and became aware that there was a political left, and many who resided therein who didn't like Ronald Reagan that much. And I watched as a good deal of the media mocked Reagan's occasional public gaffes in the last two years of his administration, unaware that he had indeed began to suffer the onset of the Alzheimers disease that would ultimately take his life.
I wrote an opinion column for my high school newspaper. Our newspaper teacher at school had recognized a style in my writing that lended itself to opinion writing, and thankfully invited me to do just that for our school publication. It was my only job on the newspaper staff for the two years I was on it. And as I became interested in politics, and began reading other national opinion writers, my column would occasionally forage into the political world. Leading up to the 1988 presidential election, there was a lot of political fodder about which write. For those of you who'll recall, you'll remember the likes of Gary Hart and Donna Rice, Joe Biden (yes, THAT Joe Biden) and his plagiarism ordeal, televangelist Pat Robertson, Jack Kemp, and, of course, Michael Dukakis.
And yes, George H. W. Bush.
Bush, Sr. was Reagan's Vice-President, although as the 80's wore on, despite Bush's vast political career, the average American citizen didn't have a clue who he was. I distinctly remember watching a television segment wherein a news reporter randomly stopped people on the street and asked them who the VP of the United States was, and not one person could name George Bush. It wasn't until the primary season approached and candidates started announcing their intent to run that anyone began to take notice of Bush. Only then did people remember that Bush had very nearly received the GOP nomination for President instead of Reagan in 1980, and that he was indeed a very serious political heavy hitter.
And it was in front of that backdrop that I voted for Bush for President in 1988.
While more interested, and more versed, in politics than many my age at that time, I was still a novice. In the days before the internet and social media, one truly did have to largely rely on the mainstream media to get their news. Cursory research in a library and through periodicals of the day could provide valuable information, but more or less, one had to watch the news and read the papers to get the info one was looking for. And it was clear from day one that the mainstream media didn't like George H. W. Bush all that much.
He was labeled a wimp by the media, largely due to his playing second fiddle to Reagan for eight years, but mostly because he was a genuinely nice guy. And in the media's attempt to destroy anyone who isn't a liberal, they literally stooped to mocking the fact that he was just so nice, and questioned whether his kindness would allow him to be tough when needed. He had a very nasty, and very public spat with CBS news anchor, Dan Rather, who disliked Bush so much he literally made up and broadcast outright lies about Bush.
But in the end, his political savvy, and know-how, won out, and he won the Presidency in 1988. And were it not for Ross Perot in 1992 (a subject we can discuss another time) he would have won again in 1992, likely in a landslide, and we very likely would not be talking about any Clinton political dynasty today.
I liked George Bush, Sr. very much. I still do. Even more so today, it could be said. I could see from Day 1 that he was a good guy. It cannot be said about every President in our history that he was an authentically good person. But it can be said unequivocally about George H. W. Bush. He was honest, forthright, kind, smart, a loving and devoted husband, and a doting father. His kids are good kids, and proved to be solid leaders themselves. Even his political enemies don't have a bad word to say about him. His presidency was a success, even as a cyclical recession his the country near the end of his term; a recession that gave rise to Ross Perot and ultimately doomed Bush for a second term. A tax increase that famously went against a campaign promise didn't help either. (See: "Read My Lips... No New Taxes!)
His leadership, courage and stoicism was inspiring as he led us through the first Gulf War, foreshadowing the same from his son, George W., following 9/11 a decade later. His only mistake being that he didn't finish the job and remove Saddam Hussein from power when he had the chance.
After his presidency, not only did he not criticize subsequent administrations (unlike a certain former president making the media rounds these days) but he did not attempt in any way to influence his own son's administration and decisions. He was a source of advice and counsel to subsequent Presidents, even forming a unique bond with Bill Clinton that ultimately led to a great deal of global good.
What we learned about Bush during his retirement years was that he was a prolific note and letter writer (and later, as technology allowed, an emailer) sending letters of love, sadness, encouragement, congratulations, and sympathy to virtually everyone with whom he ever came into contact. Friend or political foe alike, it did not matter. And he had a prolific sense of humor.
Several years ago, a book was released that compiled letters, notes, and emails written by Bush over his entire lifetime. Personal letters written over the years with no intention of them ever being made public. Some written long before he was a famous politician, and others long after he was out of office. To friends, family, political foes and allies, and foreign dignitaries both friendly and hostile to the US. He's a brilliant writer, and they're funny, sad, poignant, happy, congratulatory, vulnerable, and very real and open. I laughed and cried reading his notes to others. A particular note he wrote to his Mom about the loss of his daughter is the most tender thing I've ever read, and perhaps the best piece of writing I've ever seen.
And given they were never intended to be seen by anybody other than to whom they were addressed, it shows his true character. It only served to confirm what most of us already knew about him: He was genuinely kind, caring, honest, and full of integrity. A good man. And his love for and his devotion to his wife and family is something we all should aspire to. I highly recommend you pick up a copy of that book. If you didn't vote for him back then, you'll regret not having done so after you read it.
I wish there were more men like him. Especially among our public servants. There are some, but not many. It would be nice to have a few more.
It is a source of pride for me to know I got my first attempt at a Presidential election so right. I, for one, am honored to have called him my President.
May he rest in peace.
I voted for George Herbert Walker Bush.
Growing up in the 80's, it was nearly impossible to be unaware of the popularity of Ronald Reagan. For those who are too young to remember his presidency, and have only heard tell of it as a history lesson, believe me when I tell you, yes, he was that well-liked. Especially after the assassination attempt. The first year of his presidency consisted of most people poking fun that we had an actor as a president, and the doldrums of a lousy economy compliments of one Jimmy Carter. But after John Hinkley tried to kill him with a pistol outside of a D.C. hotel, and the subsequent courage and bravery showed by Reagan to recoup from the attempt, his popularity shot through the roof, and was cemented as his economic policies brought prosperity back to the country.
It wasn't until I was in high school in the last half of the 80's, however, that I began to really get interested in politics in general, and became aware that there was a political left, and many who resided therein who didn't like Ronald Reagan that much. And I watched as a good deal of the media mocked Reagan's occasional public gaffes in the last two years of his administration, unaware that he had indeed began to suffer the onset of the Alzheimers disease that would ultimately take his life.
I wrote an opinion column for my high school newspaper. Our newspaper teacher at school had recognized a style in my writing that lended itself to opinion writing, and thankfully invited me to do just that for our school publication. It was my only job on the newspaper staff for the two years I was on it. And as I became interested in politics, and began reading other national opinion writers, my column would occasionally forage into the political world. Leading up to the 1988 presidential election, there was a lot of political fodder about which write. For those of you who'll recall, you'll remember the likes of Gary Hart and Donna Rice, Joe Biden (yes, THAT Joe Biden) and his plagiarism ordeal, televangelist Pat Robertson, Jack Kemp, and, of course, Michael Dukakis.
And yes, George H. W. Bush.
Bush, Sr. was Reagan's Vice-President, although as the 80's wore on, despite Bush's vast political career, the average American citizen didn't have a clue who he was. I distinctly remember watching a television segment wherein a news reporter randomly stopped people on the street and asked them who the VP of the United States was, and not one person could name George Bush. It wasn't until the primary season approached and candidates started announcing their intent to run that anyone began to take notice of Bush. Only then did people remember that Bush had very nearly received the GOP nomination for President instead of Reagan in 1980, and that he was indeed a very serious political heavy hitter.
And it was in front of that backdrop that I voted for Bush for President in 1988.
While more interested, and more versed, in politics than many my age at that time, I was still a novice. In the days before the internet and social media, one truly did have to largely rely on the mainstream media to get their news. Cursory research in a library and through periodicals of the day could provide valuable information, but more or less, one had to watch the news and read the papers to get the info one was looking for. And it was clear from day one that the mainstream media didn't like George H. W. Bush all that much.
He was labeled a wimp by the media, largely due to his playing second fiddle to Reagan for eight years, but mostly because he was a genuinely nice guy. And in the media's attempt to destroy anyone who isn't a liberal, they literally stooped to mocking the fact that he was just so nice, and questioned whether his kindness would allow him to be tough when needed. He had a very nasty, and very public spat with CBS news anchor, Dan Rather, who disliked Bush so much he literally made up and broadcast outright lies about Bush.
But in the end, his political savvy, and know-how, won out, and he won the Presidency in 1988. And were it not for Ross Perot in 1992 (a subject we can discuss another time) he would have won again in 1992, likely in a landslide, and we very likely would not be talking about any Clinton political dynasty today.
I liked George Bush, Sr. very much. I still do. Even more so today, it could be said. I could see from Day 1 that he was a good guy. It cannot be said about every President in our history that he was an authentically good person. But it can be said unequivocally about George H. W. Bush. He was honest, forthright, kind, smart, a loving and devoted husband, and a doting father. His kids are good kids, and proved to be solid leaders themselves. Even his political enemies don't have a bad word to say about him. His presidency was a success, even as a cyclical recession his the country near the end of his term; a recession that gave rise to Ross Perot and ultimately doomed Bush for a second term. A tax increase that famously went against a campaign promise didn't help either. (See: "Read My Lips... No New Taxes!)
His leadership, courage and stoicism was inspiring as he led us through the first Gulf War, foreshadowing the same from his son, George W., following 9/11 a decade later. His only mistake being that he didn't finish the job and remove Saddam Hussein from power when he had the chance.
After his presidency, not only did he not criticize subsequent administrations (unlike a certain former president making the media rounds these days) but he did not attempt in any way to influence his own son's administration and decisions. He was a source of advice and counsel to subsequent Presidents, even forming a unique bond with Bill Clinton that ultimately led to a great deal of global good.
What we learned about Bush during his retirement years was that he was a prolific note and letter writer (and later, as technology allowed, an emailer) sending letters of love, sadness, encouragement, congratulations, and sympathy to virtually everyone with whom he ever came into contact. Friend or political foe alike, it did not matter. And he had a prolific sense of humor.
Several years ago, a book was released that compiled letters, notes, and emails written by Bush over his entire lifetime. Personal letters written over the years with no intention of them ever being made public. Some written long before he was a famous politician, and others long after he was out of office. To friends, family, political foes and allies, and foreign dignitaries both friendly and hostile to the US. He's a brilliant writer, and they're funny, sad, poignant, happy, congratulatory, vulnerable, and very real and open. I laughed and cried reading his notes to others. A particular note he wrote to his Mom about the loss of his daughter is the most tender thing I've ever read, and perhaps the best piece of writing I've ever seen.
And given they were never intended to be seen by anybody other than to whom they were addressed, it shows his true character. It only served to confirm what most of us already knew about him: He was genuinely kind, caring, honest, and full of integrity. A good man. And his love for and his devotion to his wife and family is something we all should aspire to. I highly recommend you pick up a copy of that book. If you didn't vote for him back then, you'll regret not having done so after you read it.
I wish there were more men like him. Especially among our public servants. There are some, but not many. It would be nice to have a few more.
It is a source of pride for me to know I got my first attempt at a Presidential election so right. I, for one, am honored to have called him my President.
May he rest in peace.
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Two Years in the Lowcountry!
It's been two years since we moved to South Carolina.
Two years! That's hard to believe. It's gone so fast. I find time does that anyway; the older I get, the faster it moves. In any case, that we have passed our two-year anniversary in our new home in the Lowcountry is hard to grasp, and yet I still find everything here very fresh and new.
It's easy for things to become mundane. A drive back and forth to a favorite locale or the food at a frequented restaurant. Even a place as cool as the city of Savannah, while no means mundane, certainly is much more familiar, and our drive there is no more an event than a drive from downtown Mooresville to the Circle in Indianapolis. That much, however, is still hard for me to wrap my mind around: that I can just up and drive to Savannah, GA, anytime I want to. Pretty cool.
It feels like home, it really does, and yet still feels new. Two years, and we've become very familiar with our surroundings. Still, we have conscious thoughts while we're out that this is a new place, and we still learn little twists and turns every time we go out. As we travel about, we occupy our brains with the idea that we need to remember this turn, learn this road, put a pin in this spot. We make a conscious decision to familiarize ourselves with what we see and do, and it occurs to me that I never did that in Indiana.
When you grow up in a place, you don't go out into your surroundings with the idea that you have to learn your way around. You just go. In the days before GPS, you relied on other's directions on how to get to that place or this place, but otherwise, you just went, traveling each day about your daily life without much thought that you need to familiarize yourself with your surroundings. Without any effort, everything becomes second nature. I'm reminded of the drive east on State Road 144, between State Road 67 in Mooresville and State Road 37 in Waverly. I could make that drive today, in the dark, with the headlights out and my eyes closed. There's not a road down here I could say that about yet. And still, I never recall thinking as I made that drive, "I need to remember this route."
Born and raised in Mooresville, IN, I spent the first 47 years of my life there. There's not much I don't know about the place I used to call home. Heck, there's not much about central Indiana I couldn't tell you about, and I could work my way around the entire state without much trouble.
I would bet that it's gonna take a lot longer than two years to get to that point here in South Carolina. To be honest, we haven't ventured too fair out of our general area here, aside from having done quite a bit of exploring in Savannah. Other than traveling through back and forth to Indiana, I've never been in our state capitol. I've been to Charleston once. I've never been to Greenville. I've never been to Myrtle Beach (which is where most people in Indiana think I moved to. It's not. MB is three hours away from me.)
None of which is to say I don't want to visit and explore those places. It's just a realization that after two years, I haven't begun to scratch the surface of our new hometown, which is why so much of it still feels new, even as I become familiar with where we live. Will it take 47 years to become as familiar with my new home as I am with my former home? Hard to say.
But I know this: There isn't one thing about our move I've regretted. Living here in the Lowcountry has been everything I'd hoped it would be, and more, and with all due respect to Mooresville, IN, I wish I'd made the move years ago.
If only for the change in weather and climate, the move would have been worth it. Ginger is indeed so much better here, but there really is nothing like wearing shorts and taking a golf cart ride on days that in Indiana, we would have been frozen to the couch. True, hurricane season can get a little hairy down here, but I'm still on the fence as to whether or not its more stressful than dodging the thunderstorms, tornados, and snowmageddons in Indiana. Otherwise, it almost couldn't be more perfect.
And I now live in the house of my dreams. Well, at least the house of my dreams I could afford! I have much to be thankful for in my new home. Until now, I'd never in my life lived in a home that had more than one bathroom -- In. My. Life. As such, I'd never had a master bedroom that had its own bathroom. I've never had a garage, and, ergo, a garage door opener. I've never had an office that didn't have to double as something else. I've never had a kitchen big enough to hold the number of people who needed to be in it at any given time, and that had more cabinet space than stuff to put in the cabinets. Most of all, I've never had a home big enough to have friends and family come visit and stay with us. And that's what's made this place so great. We think it's a beautiful home.
But there's a dynamic to the culture here that's so different from what I grew up with. We live in a vacation spot, and that comes with its ups and downs. Mostly ups, in my opinion, but still with its challenges. The restaurant food here, for example, is overpriced. Not because it's so much better, but simply because it can be, because we're a tourist town. The seafood here is excellent, I hear, because I'm not a seafood fan. Otherwise, there's fine places to eat, but nothing inherent that warrants the food being 15-20% pricier than it is anywhere else. Beyond that, the cost of living is about the same as it was in Indiana, as surprising as that may be to hear.
But it's something else. Most people who live here aren't originally from here. Most of our population is like me... they came here on vacation and fell in love with the place and decided to move here. And because of that, everyone who lives here is happy!
First, there's no "us against them" mentality with the tourists, mostly because we were all once tourists. But even the locals understand the tourists not only provide for most of their career livelihoods, but they are the reason their town has become such a cool place. Sure, there are some locals who lament their small-town past, but most have embraced the growth. I spoke with a local just the other day who told me, "yeah, this place used to be pretty boring before all the tourists starting moving in."
Second, everyone is here because they want to be. They're here for happy reasons. Nobody get's forced to move to Hilton Head, SC. Everybody moves here because they're making a lifestyle upgrade, or they're retiring to a better life, or they just want to move away from whatever mundane place they lived in before.
Everybody here is nice. Everyone's happy. They're just glad to be here. From all walks of life, they've all just melted together. The Clevelanders are just as happy to be here as the boys and girls from the Jersey shore. And the midwesterners wanted the same things in their new life as the New Englanders.
I have no idea why there's so many Pittsburgh people here. (Wink-wink!)
When you grow up in a small town as I did, you become accustomed to a certain way of life. And to a certain mentality of how you deal with people each and every day. You don't know what you don't know. When you go on vacation, no matter where you go, you live in a little fantasy world for a week or two. And then you come back to real life.
When you move away from all that, you understand the culture will be different on a fundamental level, but you don't know how different. When you move to a vacation spot, you wonder if there's gonna be some weird underbelly to the culture people don't see when they're visiting on vacation. We loved it here when we visited, and always saw how nice everybody was, but we honestly wondered if everything would be the same when we lived here everyday.
It is, and then some. I don't know if every vacation spot is like this, but this one is. The everyday culture is vastly different from midwest Indiana. It's hard to describe how different without living here in it everyday. The people here are as genuinely happy as they appeared to be when we vacationed here.
Combine all that with the weather, and it's very hard to be in a bad mood around here. Without fail, time and again, it has proved to be what we envisioned it would be. An authentically happy place.
Am I bragging? Maybe. Am I trashing my former hometown? Absolutely not! We loved Mooresville, and it was a great place to grow up and raise a family. But when small-town life is all you know, it's difficult to believe there's more to the outside world than meets the eye, and impossible to know that different cultures exist beyond our sphere of the universe, until you actually experience it.
For us, we knew there was a bigger world outside of Indiana, and we wanted to experience it. The goals (and needs) we had in life couldn't be completely met there. But a move like the one we made isn't for everybody, and I know a lot of really good, really happy people who are more than content to spend their entire lives in Mooresville, IN, and if that makes them happy, then I'm happy for them.
So here's to celebrating two years in the Lowcountry. We have loved every minute of it, and look forward to every adventure it brings our way in the coming years.
And remember, our door is always open. We love having family and friends in for a visit. And you can come by anytime. But be careful... the Lowcountry life gets in your blood very quickly. And before you know it...
Two years! That's hard to believe. It's gone so fast. I find time does that anyway; the older I get, the faster it moves. In any case, that we have passed our two-year anniversary in our new home in the Lowcountry is hard to grasp, and yet I still find everything here very fresh and new.
It's easy for things to become mundane. A drive back and forth to a favorite locale or the food at a frequented restaurant. Even a place as cool as the city of Savannah, while no means mundane, certainly is much more familiar, and our drive there is no more an event than a drive from downtown Mooresville to the Circle in Indianapolis. That much, however, is still hard for me to wrap my mind around: that I can just up and drive to Savannah, GA, anytime I want to. Pretty cool.
It feels like home, it really does, and yet still feels new. Two years, and we've become very familiar with our surroundings. Still, we have conscious thoughts while we're out that this is a new place, and we still learn little twists and turns every time we go out. As we travel about, we occupy our brains with the idea that we need to remember this turn, learn this road, put a pin in this spot. We make a conscious decision to familiarize ourselves with what we see and do, and it occurs to me that I never did that in Indiana.
When you grow up in a place, you don't go out into your surroundings with the idea that you have to learn your way around. You just go. In the days before GPS, you relied on other's directions on how to get to that place or this place, but otherwise, you just went, traveling each day about your daily life without much thought that you need to familiarize yourself with your surroundings. Without any effort, everything becomes second nature. I'm reminded of the drive east on State Road 144, between State Road 67 in Mooresville and State Road 37 in Waverly. I could make that drive today, in the dark, with the headlights out and my eyes closed. There's not a road down here I could say that about yet. And still, I never recall thinking as I made that drive, "I need to remember this route."
Born and raised in Mooresville, IN, I spent the first 47 years of my life there. There's not much I don't know about the place I used to call home. Heck, there's not much about central Indiana I couldn't tell you about, and I could work my way around the entire state without much trouble.
I would bet that it's gonna take a lot longer than two years to get to that point here in South Carolina. To be honest, we haven't ventured too fair out of our general area here, aside from having done quite a bit of exploring in Savannah. Other than traveling through back and forth to Indiana, I've never been in our state capitol. I've been to Charleston once. I've never been to Greenville. I've never been to Myrtle Beach (which is where most people in Indiana think I moved to. It's not. MB is three hours away from me.)
None of which is to say I don't want to visit and explore those places. It's just a realization that after two years, I haven't begun to scratch the surface of our new hometown, which is why so much of it still feels new, even as I become familiar with where we live. Will it take 47 years to become as familiar with my new home as I am with my former home? Hard to say.
But I know this: There isn't one thing about our move I've regretted. Living here in the Lowcountry has been everything I'd hoped it would be, and more, and with all due respect to Mooresville, IN, I wish I'd made the move years ago.
If only for the change in weather and climate, the move would have been worth it. Ginger is indeed so much better here, but there really is nothing like wearing shorts and taking a golf cart ride on days that in Indiana, we would have been frozen to the couch. True, hurricane season can get a little hairy down here, but I'm still on the fence as to whether or not its more stressful than dodging the thunderstorms, tornados, and snowmageddons in Indiana. Otherwise, it almost couldn't be more perfect.
And I now live in the house of my dreams. Well, at least the house of my dreams I could afford! I have much to be thankful for in my new home. Until now, I'd never in my life lived in a home that had more than one bathroom -- In. My. Life. As such, I'd never had a master bedroom that had its own bathroom. I've never had a garage, and, ergo, a garage door opener. I've never had an office that didn't have to double as something else. I've never had a kitchen big enough to hold the number of people who needed to be in it at any given time, and that had more cabinet space than stuff to put in the cabinets. Most of all, I've never had a home big enough to have friends and family come visit and stay with us. And that's what's made this place so great. We think it's a beautiful home.
But there's a dynamic to the culture here that's so different from what I grew up with. We live in a vacation spot, and that comes with its ups and downs. Mostly ups, in my opinion, but still with its challenges. The restaurant food here, for example, is overpriced. Not because it's so much better, but simply because it can be, because we're a tourist town. The seafood here is excellent, I hear, because I'm not a seafood fan. Otherwise, there's fine places to eat, but nothing inherent that warrants the food being 15-20% pricier than it is anywhere else. Beyond that, the cost of living is about the same as it was in Indiana, as surprising as that may be to hear.
But it's something else. Most people who live here aren't originally from here. Most of our population is like me... they came here on vacation and fell in love with the place and decided to move here. And because of that, everyone who lives here is happy!
First, there's no "us against them" mentality with the tourists, mostly because we were all once tourists. But even the locals understand the tourists not only provide for most of their career livelihoods, but they are the reason their town has become such a cool place. Sure, there are some locals who lament their small-town past, but most have embraced the growth. I spoke with a local just the other day who told me, "yeah, this place used to be pretty boring before all the tourists starting moving in."
Second, everyone is here because they want to be. They're here for happy reasons. Nobody get's forced to move to Hilton Head, SC. Everybody moves here because they're making a lifestyle upgrade, or they're retiring to a better life, or they just want to move away from whatever mundane place they lived in before.
Everybody here is nice. Everyone's happy. They're just glad to be here. From all walks of life, they've all just melted together. The Clevelanders are just as happy to be here as the boys and girls from the Jersey shore. And the midwesterners wanted the same things in their new life as the New Englanders.
I have no idea why there's so many Pittsburgh people here. (Wink-wink!)
When you grow up in a small town as I did, you become accustomed to a certain way of life. And to a certain mentality of how you deal with people each and every day. You don't know what you don't know. When you go on vacation, no matter where you go, you live in a little fantasy world for a week or two. And then you come back to real life.
When you move away from all that, you understand the culture will be different on a fundamental level, but you don't know how different. When you move to a vacation spot, you wonder if there's gonna be some weird underbelly to the culture people don't see when they're visiting on vacation. We loved it here when we visited, and always saw how nice everybody was, but we honestly wondered if everything would be the same when we lived here everyday.
It is, and then some. I don't know if every vacation spot is like this, but this one is. The everyday culture is vastly different from midwest Indiana. It's hard to describe how different without living here in it everyday. The people here are as genuinely happy as they appeared to be when we vacationed here.
Combine all that with the weather, and it's very hard to be in a bad mood around here. Without fail, time and again, it has proved to be what we envisioned it would be. An authentically happy place.
Am I bragging? Maybe. Am I trashing my former hometown? Absolutely not! We loved Mooresville, and it was a great place to grow up and raise a family. But when small-town life is all you know, it's difficult to believe there's more to the outside world than meets the eye, and impossible to know that different cultures exist beyond our sphere of the universe, until you actually experience it.
For us, we knew there was a bigger world outside of Indiana, and we wanted to experience it. The goals (and needs) we had in life couldn't be completely met there. But a move like the one we made isn't for everybody, and I know a lot of really good, really happy people who are more than content to spend their entire lives in Mooresville, IN, and if that makes them happy, then I'm happy for them.
So here's to celebrating two years in the Lowcountry. We have loved every minute of it, and look forward to every adventure it brings our way in the coming years.
And remember, our door is always open. We love having family and friends in for a visit. And you can come by anytime. But be careful... the Lowcountry life gets in your blood very quickly. And before you know it...
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