Here in the South...

Sunbeams and lemon-aide

The magic of moonlight and the intoxicating scent of magnolias

Blankets of kudzu...

This is home to me. I imagine myself leaving all of this behind - and I feel a little empty. It has become a part of me. To strip me of this would be as devastating to my soul as depriving my lungs of oxygen would be to my body. I don't know when I came to be so dependent on these things - maybe they were a part of me at birth. Or, maybe, it came later.

I can still remember the slow, Southern draw in my grandfather's voice. The voice of a Southern gentleman. I can still show you where his great-grandfather's plantation was. I can tell you the stories of how his grandfather pulled himself back up by his bootstraps after the Civil War.
Yet, do those things give me a right to consider myself "Southern"? I am very sorry, but most people who acknowledge the fact that they consider themselves to be Southern, are very, very mistaken on that point.

Being Southern is something more than eating grits and saying "y'all." It's deeper than G.R.I.T.s t-shirts and "Gone With the Wind." It's more than Confederate flags and "Dixie." It's a mind-set. No, not the mindset that most people would automatically think of as being Southern. It has nothing to do with racial prejudice or limited education. You will excuse me if I tell you that I think that it takes some of both of those qualities to try to assign them to a whole regional ethnic group of people.

I am not sure if you can justly define a Southerner without leaving something out, or misinterpreting something else. So, here goes my small attempt to give some qualities that I feel are, while not distinctly so, Southern in nature.

Southern people are conservative in nature. No, that doesn't necessarily mean that they will vote strictly Republican in the next election. What that means, is that they see the benefit in holding onto the ways of bygone generations. They love to celebrate their heritage and their history.
Southern people see the importance of family. Sorry, y'all, blood is thicker than water.
Southern people feel a great deal of a pull to the land they were born on. They are born with something in their brains that won't allow them to wander far from home for very long. After all, who would want to leave God's country?
Southern people see the need for a great, great deal of tact. This, I feel, is one of the most necessary parts of being Southern. People have the idea that Southern hospitality has something to do with the way that we treat tourists. Ha! Maybe in part, I have to give you that. But, Southen people are not always the nicest in the world. Southern women are known for being able to tell you exactly what they think of you in two minutes flat with the biggest smile you ever did see on their face the whole time - and when they walk away you are still wondering what hit you. That's tact, honey. Most Yankees don't have that, sugar.
Southern people believe in good manners.Ladies - if you want a door held open for you, a camoflage hat taken off in your presence, "yes, ma'am" 's to abound in conversation directed to you - look for a true Southern boy. And don't believe what you hear - just because they were a KA doesn't make them Southern. You'll never see a true Southern belle in a Girls Gone Wild video. (Shame on you if you watch that filth!)

There are so many other things that go along with being Southern - but I will end my list here. I have decided, by virtue of the weight of the subject, to start a blog devoted entirely to just being Southern. Hope you enjoy!