A love letter to North Carolina

Sweet Caroline - I feel at home in your wild embrace. Our time together started off rough - straight up a mountain with no switchbacks. You demanded the most out of me with no room for compromise, all or nothing. But you gave so much of yourself as well. Your voluptuous mountaintops and tender hidden spots made the hard work worth it.

You may have had to share me with Tennessee from time to time but I always came home to you.

I was smitten with The Nantahala and the Fontana wilderness. You introduced me to the Smokies. Your mountains were covered in trilleums, bluebells and dogwood blooms that dazzled the eyes and nose. You are the finest of God's Creation - all within reach of a morning hike.

Your demanding style forced me to reckon with myself. You showed me that I was the author of all of my troubles - that it was only myself that could hide my true soul that God created me to be. And that as the author, I could rewrite my story with a happier ending.

Nearly everyone I love calls North Carolina home and they deserve that happier ending.

Every Carolina fan knows:

Sweet Caroline -

good times never felt so good

I've been inclined

to feel they never would

Here's to the good times Sweet Caroline. I'm off to good ole Rockytop to see what she has to teach me.