File under "Further proof that retail America loves me and wants me to be happy. And fat."

As an exiled Southerner, one of the things I miss most is food. Sweet tea, okra, chicken and dumplings -- these are things that are hard to come by here in the great Southwest, land of green and red chile. The chile is great, it's just that I didn't grow up eating it, so I'm still amazed at the fact that unless I specify otherwise when ordering my food, it pretty much will arrive smothered in one or the other colors of chile.

The only place I can find some of these foods I miss is the chain restaurant Cracker Barrel. Those of you who live in the South probably don't go there very much, because you can get better versions of the same stuff by just wandering up in some neighbor's kitchen. But I love it, and every few months or so, when I just have to have something that tastes like home, Dan braves what is always an incredibly long wait line at the one location of Cracker Barrel in Albuquerque. It's way up on the Northeast side of town, and while it was never convenient while we lived there, it's certainly out of the way now that we've moved to the West Side, or as some of our friends refer to it, Arizona. Just the other day, I was saying to Dan that I could not believe that Cracker Barrel does not have a location on our side of town.

This is why I almost drove off the road tonight when I was returning from a trip to Walgreens and saw for the first time, a sign in front of a lot that Dan and I had recently noticed is being cleared for some sort of development about four blocks from our house. The big beautiful yellow sign read: "Coming Soon: Cracker Barrel." I could have cried for happiness.

So now that my buying world is complete (Our new Pottery Barn opened this week, as well as a second location of Ann Taylor Loft), what would you like for me to add to my list of retail longings, fellow citizens of Albuquerque? I've decided to start loaning my petitions out, since I clearly have a direct line to the commercial deities. Right now, I'm feeling benevolent enough not to charge for this service, televangelist style. But get your requests in before I change my mind. Or start camping out in front of the Cracker Barrel.