As many of you know, I have lived in the South my whole life, which may have at various times made me slightly disenchanted with it. I love to travel and just adore visiting New England!! However, there is something incredibly romantic and whimsical about the South!!! And lately, I have just been in love with it!!!
It all started the week before Easter when I bought a white cotton Easter dress. This was particularly out of character because: (A) I am an LBD kind of girl and rarely wear the colorful dresses typical of Easter and (B) I do NOT wear white!!! I was that girl in middle school with ketchup or chocolate all the way up to her ear (no jokes about how you saw me like that last week - haha!). White is just a bad idea for me -- I had to wear a white dress for my high school graduation, and my wedding dress was technically diamond white with purple & green Swarovski crystals. That's it. Not even white socks.
I don't know what came over me, but now I'm entranced . . . must have more white dresses!!! I LOVE it!!! It makes me feel all southern . . . like I need to float when I walk (I tend to bounce), sit on my front porch sipping sweet tea (which I LOVE to do), and throw around fun words like "y'all" (my favorite contraction)!!!
So then I just started thinking about all the wonderful things that are fairly unique to the South, and here are some of my favorites:
Cornbread . . . yes, I realize all of you lovely northerners are protesting that you eat cornbread, but you would be mistaken. You eat cake made out corn meal (ick). According to Mark Lowery, "Cornbread is suppose to suck 90% of the moisture out of your mouth!"
SWEET Tea . . . now THIS is where the sugar should be going!!! If black tea is chilled, it should be full of sugar!!! And if it does not include at least a cup of sugar for every 2 quarts of tea, then it is not sweet enough!!!
Fried (insert food here) . . . in the South, we try to be pleasant, and that can be difficult to do when eating unpalatable veggies, so when in doubt - fry them!!! Seriously, you can fry anything; my personal favorite is fried squash.
Y'all . . . I have various thoughts on why this is the best word in the English language. I have even expanded its use to include: y'all's (plural possessive) and y'all've (you all have). Sometimes, in the interest of saving time, it is beneficial to use as many contractions (real or made up) as possible.
Big Earrings . . . this I only noticed a few years ago. I knew we like big earrings in the South (as my sister says, "go big or go home"; this should not apply to hair), but I did not realize that people in other parts of the country only wear large earrings as fashion dictates.
Painted Toenails . . . it is a travesty to go out without your toenails being properly painted. I'm not sure who drilled this into my head, but I even try to keep them painted in the winter (when no one sees my toes; yes, I also fail to see the logic, and yet I do it anyway).
Front Porch Swings . . . I don't really know that this is a Southern thing, but I've never noticed them anywhere else. When I was a little girl, I use to sit or lie on the front porch swing with my Nanny while drinking sweet tea and watching the lightning bugs!!!
June Bugs and Lightning Bugs . . . who ever thought bugs could be fun!? As an adult, I just enjoy watching them. But as a child, I had sooo much fun catching a June bug and tying a string to its leg . . . or catching a jar full of lightning bugs and turning some of them into glow-in-the-dark rings or earings (that stopped when I was old enough to realize I was sticking their rear ends onto my ears).
So, now I have to ask . . . what are your favorite things about the South?? And if you live in another part of the country or world, I'd love to hear what makes your region unique!!!
