Six Days Till Charlotte!!

I will miss my students here, but there are approximately 283 reasons why I can't wait to get to Charlotte. Here are some of them:

I haven't cooked my own food in five weeks. In Charlotte I will have a whole kitchen with a walk-in pantry.

I haven't had fewer than 10 mosquito bites on my body at any given time since I got to Mississippi.

I will have a bathroom with a bathtub and a window and 1940s subway tile.

I will have my big, wonderful, full-size mattress again. My Delta State mattress is pretty weak. And the bedframe is ugly brown metal.

My car won't get sprayed with clouds of mosquito-killing insecticide every night.

I'll have a fridge to put my beer in.

I can get up and drive my car to work every morning, instead of riding 40 minutes in an un-airconditioned school bus.

I can sit on my couch and watch tv on Hulu and make myself a white russian.

I can paint pictures again and have all my art supplies back.

I can drive to the mountains, and hang out in Asheville, and go hiking and camping and driving through land that isn't fields of soybeans and corn.

I can go to art galleries that are closer than two hours away. And I can get involved in a church again. And I can go to the occasional sacred harp singing. And I can eat barbeque. And buy a grill. And drink beer on my porch. And . . . my brother Toby is going to live with me!!!