It's Up To Me

Asheville, North Carolina. As far as I can see, it is the home of the very rich and the blissfully poor. And a good thing about both of these here, is their general consciousness when it comes to living green and free from prejudice.

I don't live in Asheville. I live in a small town that has a lot of people whose grandfathers and grandmothers were among the founding fathers in this area. Along with that comes a much closer attachment to the Civil War than I experienced in Illinois and a certain number of fine lines delineating what is good, or bad, or just not right.

The people here are friendly, they just naturally assume I think the same way they do. What other way is there? I also found this to be true back in Illinois, so it really isn't surprising. What I did find surprising is the Southern hospitality and gentility. Among people in my age group, it is more like the fifties, the younger people I am not so sure about. Unfortunately, that same fifties attitude carries over into less palatable things.

Ignorance is not really a crime and the opinions of the locals that don't gibe with mine are almost a moot issue here anyway. It is a homogenous little community untouched by most of the things that cause problems in cities.

I realized today, that one of the things I really love about living here is that I don't have a recognized address. Well, I have a mailbox outside my fence with my address on it, but no one is allowed to use it since the woman who originally lived here moved. She was grandfathered in. I get my mail at my son's house. My front yard looks like my son's backyard, because it is, so there are no traveling salesmen, or Guidepost people, there are no invitations to local churches, or neighborhood potlucks. There are no freebies to tear off my door knob, or dig out of the bushes. All this business goes to the front door -- my son's door! Partaking, or not, is solely up to me.

I can run around in my pajamas, or sit on my swing in my robe and no one is the wiser. It is like living in the wilderness on the edge of town and I love it! I suspect that I will eventually want more company and then I will have to decide where to go to get it, but it will be a choice and Asheville is certainly close by.