I moved to North Carolina just over 7 years ago. And later this week I will be moving away. So I thought I would write a couple of posts about North Carolina. Yesterday I wrote about the things I will be glad to not deal with once I leave North Carolina. Today I am writing about the things I will miss about NC.

My house – I have lived in the same house for 5 years. I believe that is the longest time with only one address in my entire lifetime. Not only have I lived in the same house for 5 years. But it is a really nice house with really good grass in the front yard. I have issues with that sycamore tree in the front yard, and I'm not crazy about the utility room being on the carport, but otherwise I’ll miss this place.
Distance from my family – I know what you are thinking. This was on yesterday’s list, you are right it was. It is a bit of a bummer living so far from family. But there are some positives about it as well. When you live 1/3rd of the country away from your family you only see them about 3 times a year. It turns out, that seeing less of my family makes me appreciate them a lot more.
CBC – I really enjoy my classes at Carolina Bible College. Teaching adults is very different than teaching teenagers, which is what I have done for the last 13 years. But it is a nice break and I get to delve deeper into topics I can often only scrape the surface of when teaching teens. Also, my students are generally appreciative of my teaching, even if not my grading.
Cookout & MiCasita – Two very different restaurants go here on the list. Mi Casita is a Fayetteville Mexican restaurant where I eat pretty much weekly. I will miss it very much. Cookout is a fast food restaurant that is unique to North Carolina. The food is wonderful. Seriously, where else can you get a double cheeseburger with fries and chicken nuggets plus a drink for under 5 bucks. I’ll tell you - nowhere. Also, it has without question, the best milkshake in any fast-food place anywhere. My favorite fast food restaurant will now be hundreds of miles away. Sad.
The watershed lake I fish regularly – I love fishing. And for the last 4 years I have had the opportunity to fish a healthy lake with virtually no fishing pressure. I have fished there dozens of times and could count on one hand the occasions when there was more than one boat in the water. Last year alone I had 3 bass that would have been my best fish ever if I could get them into the boat. I have caught bass, pickerel, bluegill, shellcrackers, and crappie in healthy amounts from that lake. I hardly ever have a bad day in that lake and I will definitely be sad when I can’t drive 5 minutes and be there.
My friends and church family – Let’s be honest, the really sad part of moving is not going a long way from a great restaurant, or a house, or a lake, or any of those things. The hard part is leaving behind all the people. I will not attempt to name all the folks here who I will miss. I will miss friends from seminary, pastors in my association, students and colleagues at CBC and loads for people from my church family. There are many people in NC that my life is better for knowing, and it will be a shame to leave them. Fortunately, in this day of social media, it is possible to keep in touch much better than ever before. It is amazing what you can learn about people’s lives through a twitter feed or through facebook. So I’m glad for those technologies. You people keep updating and I’ll keep reading.