StillMa

I'm not a very public person.  I'm certainly not politically motivated.  I don't have a lot of free time on my hands. AND I wasn't born in Tarboro.  So, why do I care so much about what goes on here?  Why do I care about Tarboro's future?  Why do I want to help in decisions that affect the town?  Why do I want to unify and organize the citizens of Tarboro?

I live here.  Maybe I wasn't born here, but like an adoptive parent, I CHOSE Tarboro as my home.  My grown daughter then chose it as her home, too.  My sister and her husband bought a home here. We will move my parents from Maryland to Tarboro in the Spring.  Just like all of you long-time residents, this is my home and my family is here.

My Dad was in the Army. We were a military family, and because of that we don't really have a home town.  We lived where the Army wanted us to live.  All of my childhood friends were in military families, so they moved around a lot, too.  There is no childhood town that I can return to to visit all of my old friends. It doesn't exist.

As an adult I continued to move.  I lived in Maryland, in Arizona, back to Maryland's eastern shore, in New Hampshire, in Vermont and then to North Carolina where I lived in Beaufort County for more than 10 years before coming here.

Tarboro felt like home immediately. Such a pretty place. Such great people. Everybody was friendly. Everybody made us feel welcome.   We bought and moved into the old Marrow-Pitt building. A building that had been empty and neglected for at least a decade. A strange move by a couple of strange ("You're not from around here, are you?") people, but still everyone was friendly and kind and welcoming.

I'm here to stay. I love this town. It's not perfect but I love it. 

Well, if I love it so much, why am I trying to change things?

Just like a mom raising children, you can love them exactly as they are and still want to help them to be better.  Tarboro does have a few things that could be better. I'd like to help that to happen.

These Second Saturdays that I'm trying to organize will serve several purposes.  1) they will attract people from outside of Tarboro to visit and see our fine town. 2) they will provide opportunities for the people of the community to come together in the creation of something that benefits everybody. 3) they will promote community pride that is necessary if we hope for our town to grow.  4) They will be a showcase for all types of local talent. 5) They will be FUN!!! 

If you've met me, you know that I talk, and talk, and talk (hopefully not TOO much) but I've been blessed with a wonderful brain that never fails to come up with new ideas.  I like to share them and most of you whom I've talked with like the ideas, want to see fun things in town, want to make use of this beautiful backdrop, want to have more community interaction.  Many of you have expressed frustration that things are not happening, change is not progressing, well, I'll get them started.  I'll write and call and plan and organize to get things started but YOU have to help. You have to join in in whatever capacity you can.  I can get change started but WE, the people of Tarboro,  together can make it happen.