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July 21, 2005

Cross-country Family Stuff

I get to have my husband back tomorrow night, after nearly three weeks. I was thinking about it last night as I drove home from visiting my parents in Greensboro (and taking the really wrong scenic route, which gave me lots of extra time for thinking), and I’m pretty sure they’ve probably never been away from each other for more than a week or so at a time…

Of course, there was never family on the other end of the country in their case — other than me, and I was shared. In fact, all my aunts and uncles but one have lived within thirty miles of the towns where they were born for their entire lives. Men of their generation got their wanderlust out of the way in the military, but sometimes I think some of the women — my mom and my aunts — feel just a little regret at never having lived away for a while…

That said, I’m really glad my mom is at least comfortable traveling even if my dad prefers to stay at home. She gets around pretty well, and I keep encouraging her to blow my inheritance getting around even more…

Bookstore?

After a little over a month, I think I’m pretty successfully reacquainted with Charlotte. I’ve learned which Food Lion stores I like and which ones are to be avoided. I’ve settled on the best local news channel. I’ve pretty much figured out which locations are best reached by using the trendy new beltway and which are better served by the ever-mysterious old standby Charlotte 4. I’ve found all the local Chick-fil-A locations and cafeterias, and even passable pizza…

What I’ve yet to find is a really good, fairly large used book store. Ideas? The one at Central and The Plaza is definitely NOT that bookstore, in case you were planning to suggest it…