Another cycle is beginning

Isn't that the way of life? Every moment is another opportunity to begin anew. When Mary and I look around where we are currently living, we realize there is so much more that what we actually see.
We are currently painting several rooms of our rented house. We have been here since January and feel it is time to make it "ours" in so much as it can be done cheaply. The previous tenants painted it some shade of green--not a nice green like cactus or meadow--rather it was a cross between LIME--CHARTRUSE--and MARGARITA obnoxious kind of green. Some people just don't see the small details.
That was the point of our discussion yesterday. MAry and I went to a big box home improvement store in Erwin, North Carolina. It is a small town, one where the original downtown has been by-passed by a new divided highway. This creates two towns out of one. The old town where businesses struggle and the "new" town where all the big franchises and chain stores are built.
You can tell a city that has been invaded by these chain stores because it is hard to fin the mom and pops retailers. Generally they are the store fronts with FOR RENT signs in the windows, or they are off the main drag, hidden 2-3 blocks away.
Anyway, after our big box store purchase, we went in search of a place to eat that wasn't fast food or franchised. The Garmn has a points of interst button and one choice is FOOD----> find all. Not sure where Garmin gets the lists, but usually 50% of places listed are out of business. So was the case as we went looking for Ron's Sandwich Shop in Dunn, North Carolina. 2 blocks off US 421 (Main Street) on Broad was supposed to Ron's. What we found at 325 Braos Street was Noah's Pizza and Grill. It looke kind of gimmicky, but there were no other places that were opened.
We walked in and the place is empty. Despite the 15 cars parked outside? Mary asked if they were open, and we were told yes. We sat down and took a few minutes to order. Mary had the Chicago Style Gyros and I the Philadelphia Steak & Cheese. Considering we are in Dunn, North Carolina,it was quite a risk. After we ordered the waitress, who we later found out was starting her junior year in high school, stood at our table chatting for 15-20 minutes about all kinds of things. We started off talking about some food that had been on the Food Channel--Deep Fried Greatness of teh South or something. That led to a talk about the fryers at Noah's going up in smoke one night after closing. That was precipitated by a conversation about Holt Lake BBQ in Johnston County that had burned last year and has since been rebuilt.
That was when we were once again remind that there are so many stories, so many places we haven't experierenced. To go somewhere and "see" it, like going to the Grand Canyon, is shallow and superficial if we haven't experienced the actual community surrounding the place.
Right now we are feeling overwhelmed. There is so much we want to see. So many people we want to talk with. So much to learn about life and living.