As you may or may not know, the completion of I-540 (the outer beltline of Raleigh) ended up linking all the little suburbs of Raleigh into one big loop that surrounds the city. 
    In an ever changing world with us (teenagers) growing up and leaving our parents...we're forced into a different world.  I'm the last child in my family, and after I go, my mom retires and starts her new life after work.  She has thought farther ahead than I and has bought a house and chosen to leave this place for one of those little aforementioned suburbs called Knightdale.
    Right now, my sister is living in the house and I just came back from there for Thanksgiving.  She lives in a new development.  It's absolutely gorgeous.  The house is incredible: all the new ammenities one could ask for in a new house.
   Knightdale itself is a quiet town somewhere in between the size of Clemmons and Lewisville.  Raleigh is somewhat of a different story.  It is big.  Big downtown, big malls, big everything.
    I ended up going into the city on Wednesday to drive around to find the Cary Gamefrog.  The traffic is too much, and the shear distance between the house in Knightdale and anything of importance within the city is just too much.
    Friday, the day I came back, made me realize something.  I absolutely love Winston Salem and I'm afraid of leaving.  There is only one city this size that mixes that feeling of early United States history with the fun of stuff you do now, not to mention the fact that I have spent most of my conscious life here.  I see it every living day.  Driving through the city, I'm constantly reminded of the history, the fun times of growing up, and the last few moments of high school that I am bound to spend just having fun with my friends, having no worries.
    I came to the conclusion that I'm afraid to grow up.  I'm finally legal and I would kill for nothing more than to buy some time.  I can't help but think that I'll grow even older, and come back to find nothing to come back for.  The people, the places having disappeared with time.
    Alas, change is inevitable, and despite not having a place to stay when I do, I will come back one of these days: 10, 20, 30 years from now.  And even though everything will have changed by the time I do, secretly...it will have the same effect on me as it does now.