Appalachian

I was born in Florida, and I grew up here too, but from the time I was a little girl I always felt like North Carolina was my second home.  During the summer my family would drive up there to visit my Grandpa and stay in his cabin in the mountains.  When it was time to leave, I didn't want to go.  You know how it is when you visit family.  You have to go, but it gets easier the further you get from their house.  But I had to leave more than just people and a house.  I had to leave the whole place.  For hours I would have to stare at the mountains going by and know that I was leaving them.

 (Trail in Mount Mitchell State Park.  I took this myself)

When I woke up this morning and went outside it was overcast and nippy, kind of like a foggy evening in the Appalachians.  It made my heart hurt.  There is something about mountains that I love, but I can't quite place it.  Maybe it's the seemingly unending wilderness that you can't find in other places.  What I love about the mountains in North Carolina is the smell.  Yep, the smell.  Earthy and damp.  It's how Heaven smells, I'm sure.  I have a friend who once told me that she loved the way a dentist's office smelled, and that's how she knew she wanted to be a dentist.  Well, I love the way North Carolina smells, and that's why I want to spend my every waking moment there.

(I also took this picture, but I'm not telling you where in NC it is...it's a secret.)

Living in the city while I'm at college is rough.  I've never been a city girl to begin with.  But I comfort myself with the hope of the Appalachians in my future.  I just know God is going to get me there.