Change doesn't always do us good

I just returned from a trip to Charleston, SC. For the first time in my life I was relieved that I didn't live in that beautiful city. I have grown up visiting Charleston almost every year of my life. I have extended family there, and we have just always loved to visit the "Holy City", as they call it, due to the number of churches located downtown. Charleston is gorgeous, gracious, mysterious, historic, artistic, and full of life and memories for me and my loved ones. The fact that it is on the coast, and the beaches there are wonderful, just adds to its allure for me. I love the ocean, and it is my dream to live on the beach one day. Charleston has always seemed the perfect location for me, because of all it has to offer along with the beach. Perfect, it seemed. My dream was to make this city my home one day.

However, this year, I could not help but be overwhelmed with sadness at how my dream city has changed. It is becoming more and more commercialized. Many of the businesses that have operated there for decades have disappeared, only to be replaced by new, commercial chains of restaurants and shops. How things change.

We took a carriage tour with some friends who had never visited Charleston before. They were intrigued by everything they saw and heard, as was I. I did get an opportunity to notice some homes that I had never noticed before, and the carriage driver offered a few tidbits of interesting information that was new to me. However, what struck me was that most of the tour focused on this or that house, how many times it had been bought or sold in its history, and how much the most recent owner had paid for it. Tacky. Commercial. Boring. Even to someone like me, who loves to read the property transfer section in the local newspaper, visit open houses for fun, and dabbles a little bit in real estate. It was purely disappointing to someone who loves the history and mystery of Charleston. There was such a contrast between this tour and the walking tour my husband and I took of Charleston over ten years ago. On that tour, we were introduced to actual local artists as we entered their homes and galleries, we were given an insiders view of the social aspect of Charleston, we were introduced to hidden treasures, such as the theatre where the original play, Porgy and Bess, had been held, and pre-Revolutionary buildings that had survived the wars, fires, earthquakes and hurricanes of this place. And at the end of the tour, the lovely young lady who had led the tour, a Charleston native, by many generations, had invited us into the garden of her own downtown home, a famed "Charleston Single Home", and prepared tea and cookies for us, while we toured her lovely garden and relaxed on the original "joggling board". But the carriage tour bore no resemblance to the enchanting walking tour we had taken years ago. How things change.

I walked into an "Open House" on Queen Street that we happened upon, excited to get to see a historical home up close and personal. It turned out that the house was only open on the first floor... a one room studio, literally one room with a small bath, kitchenette, and murphy bed all in one living room. The cost to buy this lovely space? Nearly $400,000. Outrageous. The strange thing was that so many homes downtown were for sale. I had a feeling that the one-time downtown "community" is a community no longer. Rather, it has become a minefield of "properties", to be bought and sold by prospectors, developers and collectors, instead of a community of people who live and work there. This was an immense change in the dynamic of downtown Charleston. How things change.

We decided to drive out to the Isle of Palms and Sullivans Island, my old stomping grounds as a child. I had relatives who lived on Patriot's Point, in "downtown" Mt. Pleasant, on Sullivans Island and on the Isle of Palms. All of these areas were so quaint, barely developed, and the vibe was laid back and relaxed. Over the past few years, both the fallout from Hurricane Hugo and the new bridge, which replaced the old Cooper River Bridge, have brought an unbelievable amount of change and commercial development to this area.

First of all, there is a new causeway leading over to the Isle of Palms, which you get to by driving down a completley different highway which is littered with commercial chain shops and restaurants. The Isle of Palms has given rise to new "boutique hotels" on the beach, and all of the wonderful beach homes we used to rent have been replaced by motel-sized mansions that only a select few can afford to rent now. Thankfully, Sullivans Island has not changed as much, except that the restaurants there, such as Poe's Tavern, Sullivans, and others are crowded with tourists, even on a Thursday evening. It was nice to drive back over to the mainland via the old causeway from Sullivans Island, the one with the drawbridge, and drive back down the old Highway 17 through Mt. Pleasant, and over Shem Creek. Shem Creek itself has changed. Back in the day we used to love to visit the old Trawler restaurant, eat our fill of fried shrimp, and dream about walking up the little lighthouse in the parking lot. Well, the old Trawler has since burned down, and been replaced by a more upscale eatery, and the entire row of Shem Creek eateries are now crowded with tourists. Downtown Mt. Pleasant, where my uncle once owned a small plumbing business, is now just a small little blip in the road. The little drug store is still open, however, and you can still buy a milkshake there. One of the only memories that has remained unchanged. Mt. Pleasant is now a small city of its own. How things change.

Change is the big buzzword in the presidential campaign this year. Everyone is so disappointed with the current administration, apparently, that they are going gaga over anyone willing to utter the word "Change" in their campaign slogan.

I find this problematic, because A)I don't believe Change is always a good thing; and B)I don't think we are being informed by the "Change candidate", Barack Obama, exactly what he means by "change". I simply thing that we are better off with the known than the unknown. And in this case, the unknown could possibly be the unthinkable.

But, I still love Charleston, changes and all. She is still full of charm and mystery and history... And I know that I will still love my country, changes and all...

Welcome to TRONWORLD!

Wow...okay. I have actually done this! I've been wanting to start "blogging" for a while now, but hesitated for several reasons, which are probably the same reasons you haven't started your own blog if you are reading this right now and don't have a "blog of your own". Can we call that a "BOYO"? That can be a new term, right? Used in a sentence, for instance, if someone posted something crude or hateful on my blogspot, I'd answer, "Hey, buddy! Don't spew that stuff on my blog! Get a BOYO!!!" What do you think? I think it's going to catch on. :)

So anyway, my reasons for not blogging would be the typical ones... no one cares what I have to say (probably true), it takes too much time and I'm too busy with other priorities (definitely true), I'll embarass myself and my loved ones (good chance of that), people will make unkind comments and disagree with me on everything (good chance of that, too)... blah blah blah...

But, I've still wanted to do it. I guess I, like everyone else in the world, think I have something important to say that MUST be said... to the whole world! (Even though I know that the number of people who will actually read my blog is miniscule.) :)

Anyway, the truth is that I actually talk or write to think, so this is perfect for me. If you and I were just having a conversation, my words would usually just come out kind of "unedited". So, writing them down allows me to do the brain drain thing, and still go back and actually edit what has come out. You know... I'm the kind of person who speaks, and then regretfully says, "Did I actually say that out loud???"

And, truthfully, I LOVE the thought that there might actually be people out there who will actually be interested in reading this and commenting on it... and that maybe, just maybe, I really do have something of value to say that will be encouraging or helpful to someone out there...maybe you. And, hopefully, there will be many of you "out there" who have something encouraging and helpful and "of value" to share with me. :)

The trigger that got me to actually start this thing was that I just began a "Walking Challenge" with some friends of mine, and, desiring to have a place where we can connect our ideas, thoughts, motivational and inspirational ideas, and share our successes and failures, I thought this would be a good idea that might just work... so, Ta-Da!

I am looking forward to learning more about "blogging", and having a BOMO ("blog of my own"). I welcome your comments, suggestions, tips, questions, etc.... My only request is that we all refrain from using profanity or any kind of language that my mother and children couldn't read along with me (one day...my children can't actually read yet)!

I pray that this "blogspot" will be used, above all, to glorify my Father in Heaven, to encourage others, and to share the Good News and all of the inspiration and life-changing joy that comes with it!

TTFN!