When she served my food, she and a couple of the other waitresses sat down to talk with me while I ate. I couldn’t imagine that happening in Los Angeles. Or Seattle. Or even in outgoing Denver. The ladies told me, "We just want to keep you company." I was blown away by my first taste of Southern hospitality, friendliness sweeter than anything I had ever encountered. The girls talked up life in Raleigh. They told me about the different areas of town, where to live, what to do. It was tobacco-growing country still, but had also gone high-tech with the technology companies of nearby Research Triangle Park. They were boosters for their city, and for some reason I interpreted that as a good sign that this was where I needed to be.