Not so long ago, I left North Carolina for the first time. I embarked on a huge adventure: to move to Orlando, Florida to work at Walt Disney World. It had been a dream of mine for so long, I left with wide-eyes that barely looked back to what I was leaving behind.
I had never been too fond of my home state. I liked it, but I didn’t appreciate what it has to offer. I saw negativity, which yes, North Carolina has a lot of. I knew I would miss my friends, but I did not anticipate missing my home state.
I found that driving on the highway in Florida was dreary. In North Carolina, there are trees that line nearly every road. The mountains are just an hour or so away from my hometown and the beach is just three hours away from where I go to school. I found myself calling home and telling my parents, “I love Disney World. Not the biggest fan of Orlando, though.”
I was homesick for the trees, the rolling hills, the mountains, the Outer Banks, and my beautiful college campus. I didn’t know how to express how I felt, so, in typical Annie fashion, I wrote a song. Here it is:
If you’re not from NC, then I should first explain that ‘Carolina Blue’ is a very particular shade of light blue. It’s the school color for UNC-Chapel Hill.
Annie Proctor 