What I’ll miss about Charlotte when I move overseas

In a few weeks, my family and I will be moving overseas. While I’m looking forward to this drastic change in our lives, I’ve started thinking about things that make Charlotte so unique. Here’s a list of the things I think I’ll miss most about the Queen City.

Friday night football

A place and time near home to find a sense of community for young and old. If at times the spectacle seems like ADD on steroids, you can turn around and hone in on observing the hilarious petri-dish of teenage hierarchies forming in, around and under the stands.

CMS

The school system you love to hate, because you intend to quietly provide your child with a decent education, but you get sucked into the diverse, messy, loud, conflicted and ever-changing community, butting heads and sometimes finding harmony, but always seeking improvement.

Not to mention my children’s bus driver, Byron Nash, whose heart pours out of his smile, who is punctual and professional, contains his cargo of elementary schoolers while “bonding” with them, and who sees his job as a “civic duty”.

Harris YMCA Masters Swim Team

When you can drop off your kid at child-watch and enjoy an hour workout under the tutelage of a caring coach, whether you are training for a race, getting over a bad boss or feeling bloated from eating too much.

Slushed ice and Coke

Normally an opponent of soft drinks and instead a serious coffee drinker, during the hot and muggy days of August, when coffee turns gross, IMHO, nothing beats a cold glass filled with slushed ice infused with Coke.

311

You have a stupid question? A polite county employee will send you in the direction of an answer. Even on a prank call on New Year’s Eve, just to see if anyone would pick up, the service rep was polite and professional, maybe just a tad surprised that all I blurted out was a “Happy New Year!”

Grocery store baggers

There is nothing more indulgent than having someone else bag your groceries, while you (1) get to argue with your toddlers about not grabbing bubble gum, or (2) when you have reached that blissful stage of grocery-shopping-alone,  you get to daydream over the covers of high gloss magazines.

The parent hustle of the South

Whether it is organizing carpools to games, setting up Signup Genius for school potlucks, collecting coats for the homeless, planning second-hand sales for uniforms, supporting the lemonade stand, fundraising, collecting group coach gifts, forming group bike rides, the hustle is always intentional, creative and energetic!

The growing city

I wish I could witness the unfolding of the Transportation Action Plan, the new City Zoning Ordinance aka Charlotte Unified Development Ordinance and the human-centric urbanization of SouthPark boosted in part by CNIP. Not just because it is happening, but because civic engagement is a part of it, if you so choose.

Bike accessibility

Bike riding in all parts of Charlotte: West Charlotte, to learn more about the African-American history there; Plaza Midwood, for the cycling community; Central Avenue, to discover the diverse restaurants.

The weather

Late September/early October when your kids come down for breakfast after you opened all the windows to let in the first fresh crisp air after summer, and they yell, “I am freezing, close the windows!” — and it’s 73 degrees! Or the snow days with only a few snowflakes to be seen.

Charlotte neighborhoods

And most specifically, my SouthPark neighborhood — for its Halloween and Fourth of July parades, potlucks on Memorial Day and Labor Day, Kidical Mass Family cBike Rides, camping nights; for my wooded back yard, doubling as a wetland for McMullen Creek, the beautiful stomping ground of my children and dog for the past 11 years.

Au Revoir Charlotte! Grow well!

What would you miss about Charlotte if you moved overseas?

This story was written for CharlotteFive’s latest channel for parents in the QC, called QC Playground. Sign up for the weekly QC Playground newsletter

Photo credit: Karin Lukas-Cox 

This story was originally published May 28, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "What I’ll miss about Charlotte when I move overseas."