Friday, March 25, 2011

Living That Southern Way

William was a patient in a veterans of war hospital following WWII. Irene was his nurse. He was a southern gentleman from Alabama. She was a Yankee from Pennsylvania. It was an improbable romance but it was real. These are my grandparents. I never got to meet my grandpa, but I know him. He rubbed off on my grandma in the best way possible: she was the most southern lady I knew. 
There's a charm to the south, an old school way of life. Everything seems to move slower, and not because it has to, but because those living there understand the importance of taking the time to appreciate and enjoy life. If you've never been to the south, you have no idea what you're missing. 
  • The intensity of college football. GO DAWGS! SIC 'EM! & Roll Tide Baby! (Contradictory, but y'all know why) 
  • Being able to spend 85% of the year outside 
  • My bestest friends 
  • The regular use of ma'am and sir 
  • Fried Okra...or anything fried for that matter 
  • Publix 
  • Getting away with regularly saying,"Hey Y'all!" 
  • Corn mazes
  • Peach stands
  • St. Louis Ice Waters 
  • Roadtrips to Dillard House 
  • The beach. Seriously, when the ocean turns to bathwater and the sand feels like mud. That's my heaven
  • Charleston
  • Southern hospitality 
  • Regularly hearing country music in bars 
  • The response to "sorry" being,"You're fine" 
  • Tailgating 
  • Men holding open doors and opening your car door (swoon) 
  • The history. The south holds so much of our nations history. It's amazing
  • Being able to order sweet tea 
  • Bike riding, fishing, hiking, etc 
"But actually," she said, 'the whole of Savannah is an oasis. We are isolated. Gloriously isolated! We're a little enclave on the coast - off by ourselves, surrounded by nothing but marshes and piney woods. We're not easy to get to at all, as you may have noticed. If you fly here, you usually have to change planes at least once...We're a terribly inconvenient destination!" 
-John Berendt, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil


Y'all come back now, ya hear!