Carrboro Girls

I thought my niece Colleen was Chapel Hill Girl.

I called her that for years.

But what I found out? On our recent trip to our darlin' girl's fair campus? She's all Carrboro-Girl. Carrboro is Chapel Hill's smaller, cooler, smarter neighbor. But not annoying like smaller, cooler and smarter neighbors can often be.

Carrboro has really cool brick sidewalk water pipe covers, which Mistah coveted:

Mistah really really likes brick sidewalk water pipe covers . . .

Like, a lot.

And Carrboro also has cool murals painted on their brick walls . . .

But Carrboro's main attraction? If you're us? Our main attraction was Chapel Hill Girl Carrboro Girl Colleen and her housemates.

When we were planning our trip to North Carolina I asked Colleen if we could cook family dinner for them one night. "Of course you can," you're thinking, "they're college kids." And that's true. They are college kids -- but not for long -- and what college kid doesn't like a family dinner? But these particular college kids were smack dab in the middle of finals (Good timing, Aunt Ellie and Uncle Bill.....) and Mistah and I did not want to get in the way of their collective studying and going out with a bang and all that.

But yeah. They are were are college kids, and college kids -- like the rest of us -- need to eat.

I planned to make my world-famous linguini-and-clams, and my equally world-famous pasta-broccoli, and thought I'd quickly and quietly whip it up in a quiet house full of the sound of studious studiers studying, but the girls were in the moment, and part of it all, and chopped and rinsed and stirred and set the table and warmed the bread and it was one of those magical, everyone-in-it-together evenings of pure bliss.

Shawty was my clam girl.

Yum.

I tell you people, I love to cook, and I especially love to cook for the peeps, but I have rarely loved to cook for peeps more than I loved to cook for these particular Carrboro-Girl Peeps.

Colleen was my clam-scooper-girl.

The food was delicious; of course it was.

But what was most awesome and excellent and magical about that night was these five almost-22-year old, almost-college grads -- they all finish their tenure at UNC Chapel Hill and face the world on May 13. These young women are smart and beautiful and sharp and funny and fun and warm and interested and interesting and full of knowledge and ambition and enthusiasm and determination and strength and joie de vivre and please let me reassure you all: if this is the future of America? We are in good, good hands.

Colleen and Sarah and Tracey and Sarah and Virginia, our Carrboro Girls . . .

Thank you for a magical time. Now get out there and conquer the world.