The Older You Get

What a difference seventeen miles makes or maybe it is the difference in the people in charge and their priorities. The Aiken Chamber has a 7:30 a.m. meeting; 150 people attend, it is catered, real discussions take place and the man in charge actually joins in. At 8:30 a.m. downtown Aiken is bustling with foot traffic, stores are open and doing business, restaurants are open, downtown is prospering.
Seventeen miles away North Augusta has a Chamber meeting; seven people show up, it is held at a small table in a local restaurant and the head guy just sits there with nothing to say. What’s open? Kroger, Publix, Wal-Mart and downtown North Augusta has no foot traffic, no stores open because there are no stores to speak of, however the plethora of banks will be open at nine and construction continues on the new municipal building and the empire on the hill.
Sure there is more money in Aiken. Aiken is attracting the young professionals. Aiken is attracting many new and exciting things. Meanwhile North Augusta, while growing, is letting some of its prime real estate, its quaint southern charm, its future just go to waste. North Augusta can not ride on Augusta’s coattails, North Augusta needs its own attractions, its own identity and it needs to bring downtown back.
Yes, I know you are probably wondering to yourselves why I stay here if I criticize North Augusta. I criticize because I love North Augusta and see its potential and the potential to attract home based businesses downtown thereby attracting visitors thereby attracting the thing that makes the world go around; money. I criticize because if someone does not nothing will ever happen.
New Year’s Eve was a cacophony of fireworks all around. Someone in my neighborhood had the monsters that when fired sounded like cannons then seconds later exploded into a shower of stars with a shrill whistle. There were the standard fireworks also; the pack that can be lit individually or all at once. My neighbors tended to light them all at once. One next door, one down the street, one a street over all going off as if synchronized with a backdrop of cheers and yells. Needless to say Rabbit, my cat, was not pleased nor was Oreo; he hid under the bed and just when he thought it was safe to poke his little head out the noise started again and back under he went. I’m sure my others, Hobo, Topaz and Zipper, were diving for cover outside. That night they opted to be adventurous and explore the yard. I do not know how long the celebrations went on; I went to sleep before the New Year could greet me. Someone told me once that the older you get the faster the times goes. When you are twenty something you do not believe them. When you are something something you do. Happy New Year..