Introduction

I'm very happy to report that Delaware County sticks with a person long after he or she has moved away. (I mean that in a good way ... not like, say, bubblegum that sticks to your shoe.) There are truly extraordinary things about the county that residents might tend to overlook, and I've discovered that we take Delco values and memories with us wherever we go.

I grew up in Folcroft, attended St. George School in Glenolden (a school which no longer exists) and Sharon Hill High (a school which no longer exists). For the past 14 years I've lived in the Washington, DC area, but I return regularly to visit my family and to make sure that Folcroft continues to exist. To my great relief, it does.

So ... what's so great about Delaware County?

Delco is home to the longest-running amateur baseball league in America, The John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge and the nation's highest concentration of quality cheeseteak establishments per square mile. (That last one is admittedly merely my opinion, but just try to get a decent roll south of Newark, DE … and don't even talk to me about the abomination that calls itself a “steak and cheese sub.”)

But it's the people and places you became accustomed to seeing every day that you miss most once you've moved away.

I hope to share some observations of a Delco expatriot in this blog. To point out the changes (sometimes subtle and sometimes dramatic) that I see on my monthly visits home. It was more than a little unsettling a few years ago, for example, to find that one of my favorite bar/restaurants had transformed into a chain drug store. (All together now … “Do we REALLY need another drug store?”)

And Wawa sells gas now?

Chester has a major league soccer team?

You don't have to register Republican to get your trash collected any more?

I hope you'll check back regularly (or even if you're “irregular,” although I make no claims to help that condition), and feel free to share your observations and memories here, too!