It is looking like I am not even close to the perfect time to start blogging about Wilmington as I had imagined. The closing on the Greenville house has been delayed again due to circumstances beyond my control, the apartment is crowded with boxed and bagged treasures and necessities moved from there and waiting permanent placement at another address, and I am feeling a little displaced. Therefore...perhaps it is the perfect time to begin. After all, life is a journey, and the leg I am running now is really sort of fun, just different. My responsibilities are few. There is time for reading, relaxing, and wandering on foot and by car to discover wonderful new places and people in this new old city.
One observation is that Wilmington is loaded with small privately owned restaurants and shops. Quaint is perhaps an apropos adjective. Adorable definitely. A few stores from the huge chains can be seen around Mayfaire and Monkey Junction, but mostly it is the small proprietor who snares the shoppers and diners. And the workers are not just hourly employees. They are people who are want to ensure the success of their ventures. Now isn't that the American way.
This is home. If someone asks if I am from here, I answer, "Yes, but I have been away a long time." Last night at Thalian Hall, I looked up into the balcony and felt the excited stirrings of the curly haired little girl within, who over sixty years ago, excitedly sat there watching The Frog Prince with her mother. Home.
So ends my first blog post. Like a diary, I do not know what stories may be told during the days and years that follow, but as always, I look forward with anticipation and joy to this leg of my journey. Oh...and I bought a new pocket camera to carry along.
