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apparently, i'm southern....

at the j our lessons and topics and such are based on the letter we're doing that week. and in the afternoon, we're in charge of cooking one day a week.
well, next week is the letter "b" and we were trying to think of something to make that started with the letter b...and were coming up with everything standard, like things with blueberries (and believe me, trying to get creative with some of these letters for a class of 4 and 5 year olds can be difficult).
so, i thought, "butter! let's make butter!"
to which the other teacher in the room said, "wow, you really are southern."
although, i think this was also because i made the kids eat grits, we made homemade biscuits, and i almost cooked okra with them, and also taught them all about georgia for 'g' week. in fact, one of my parents told me that he took his kids to five guys (where they have peanuts) and his daughter said, "do they also have peaches? and coke? are we in georgia?"
and the morning teacher said, "you can do that?"

i was under the impression that making butter in the classroom was kind of normal....it happens a lot back home. and i'm pretty sure i did it at least once during my education.
apparently, i was wrong.


but i'm kind of ok with that. i like being from the south. i like the accents, the food (even if it isn't the healthiest), the people, the traditions (stopping on the road when a funeral passes by? yeah, totally miss that....i hope it doesn't die away), the sense of family and community. i even like that i lived in the country for most of my growing up years (um.....dirt roads and not a lot of stop lights. walking down my street to get to the blackberry bushes -- which i actually hated at the time, but wish i had appreciated it more. living in a place where people sometimes ate their roadkill. where it took us at least 30 minutes to get almost anywhere. and yes, i know that there are a lot of people who live in a more "country" place than i did) and could see myself living in a big farmhouse one day. i like that my hometown has an affinity for college football, that calling someone "honey" isn't a bad thing, that manners are still quite evident, that there are waffle houses, chik-fil-as and cracker barrels in great number. i like that i subscribe to a magazine called "garden and gun", even if no one else around me (who, by the way, are also all from the south) understands.

i like that the south is my home. even if i don't live there, it will always be my home.

Comments

Jill said…
Well said! Cracker Barrel saved our upcoming rehearsal dinner by being the only place I could find 8 oz. bottled Cokes. I have missed the south a lot lately too. Road trip?? :)
jwbyrdman said…
And you don't get so much snow that after the snow plow (which I don't know if I have ever seen in person) comes by you can't see your car! Although, at the very thought of snow, there is no milk or bread for miles (and miles and miles)!
Also don't think you emphasized the homemade biscuits enough; they are sooo good! And, SWEET TEA (Iced of course), not raspberry or whatever other flavors they have up there!

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