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Thursday, May 20, 2010

Living in the Deep South

Even though I grew up in Texas, moving here to Georgia has been a bit of a culture shock. You see, Texas is not "The South", and actually anyone from Texas will get offended if you suggest it is. It's not. (and it's not part of the Southwest or West either, which is a whole other discussion.)

Anyways, moving here has shown me that people in movies like "Steel Magnolias" and "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" really DO exist. (I know the second one is based on a true story, that's beside the point.) Since we've moved here, we've experienced a Confederate Day at Fort Pulaski, complete with a kid asking questions like "Why do you think we lost the war?" We. As in, the Confederacy. It's amazing that people still think along those lines. Enough so that they are teaching their children to think that way as well.

The city we live in is full of idiosyncrasies. Downtown, there is a James Brown Arena. There is also a statue of James Brown. At the same time, a few blocks away, stands this monument:

thunder14

That side says "Our Confederate dead". We won't discuss what one of the other sides says, although if you're really curious, I'm sure Mr. Google will help you out. Let's just say we hurried our kids past it before they could read it. That's not a lesson I am quite ready to tackle with them yet.

It's not been all bad though. Quite the opposite in fact. They actually have seasons here, which is something Texas doesn't, unless you count "Kinda cold, hot, and even hotter" as seasons. Lately around here, the honeysuckle has been blooming. So much so, that on one of my nightly walks, the air was full of the smell of them. It was like God had sprayed perfume on the planet. It was amazing.

honeysuckle

There are also mornings that look like this:

Georgia Morning

And activities for our kids that involve this:

teaparty4a

(yes, Lindsay went to a true Southern tea party where the hats were big and the tea was cold and sweet)

So, despite some of the stuff discussed earlier on in this post, I have to say that living here is growing on me.

2 comments:

furiousBall said...

I lived in Atlanta for 13 years and Austin for a year and Austin definitely suited me better. The debutantes and such really didn't work for me, but what do I know... I live in Jersey. Home is what we make of it for sure.

Lacey said...

They always say life is happiest when you "bloom where you are planted" :)!