Because it's what I do

I realize that I've been fairly negative lately and I've decided to curb that a little with an actual positive post about New Mexico. I suppose I feel some sort of obligation to it because I am now, officially, a resident of what a state that's in the top ten poorest states in the country. Interestingly enough, most of the other places I've lived are also on that list, which makes me wonder what my attraction is to poor places.

But there I go again, negative, negative, negative.

Most of you know I like lists so I figured I'd make one for this occasion too - this occasion of celebrating me and my town, county, state that I'm learning to like. Someone asked me the other day (from Kentucky) what I thought about living here and I said, "I'm learning to love it." That's the most diplomatic answer I could find. But it's really true.

Anyway, I keep veering off into the Negative Territory so here we go with the positive list:

- I've been here only six months but I can walk down the street and people know me and say hi.
- Everyone here loves dogs and since I love my dogs, I enjoy stopping and talking to people about them.
- I love the fact that my office is downtown, which allows me easy access to great restaurants, city hall, magistrate court, etc. Plus, the town's small enough that I walk to a lot of my meetings and I love that.
- Walking places and the people's love of dogs means that I can take Skye with me and either she's allowed to go in buildings with me or I can leave her tied up outside within sight.
- It still baffles me that at night, I'll walk out of the office or out of a restaurant and smell wood stoves burning. I love it, though - somehow it brings peace to me...a childhood memory, I think.
- I love how I'm able to creatively explore my journalistic abilities with almost complete freedom
- To go along with that, I'm proud of what I've accomplished here over the last six months.
- Every day when I drive home from work, I'm astounded at the beauty of the mountain range as I top the hill and wind down into them. I see it every day but it still impresses me.
- The rain here is so pungent. Even though it doesn't rain often, when it does, it smells so sweet. Yesterday morning when I walked out on the porch, I smelled it but there was no rain. I smiled, thinking that maybe it was just God's special good-morning gift to me.
- People here have accepted me as a person and in my job; I'm thankful for that.
- I love, love, love being closer to home and able to go home on the weekends I'm able to. That's really helped me through this transition and in my relationships with my family members.
- I appreciate the ruggedness of the land and the beauty of it - it makes you respect it.
- The sunsets and sunrises are spectacular, as are the night skies.
- The tow-truck drivers I've met have been phenominal (sorry, I had to throw that in there...but it is a positive so technically it counts!)
- I really like the massive dry erase board on my wall.

So there. I've done it. Now when people (my mom) asks me what I like about SC, I can whip out my list because I now have one. :)