Day 23

"Growing up Southern is a privilege, really. It's more than where you're born, it's an idea and state of mind that seems imparted at birth. 

It's more than loving fried chicken, sweet tea, football, and country music. It's being hospitable, devoted to front porches, magnolias, moon pies and coca-cola... and each other. 

We don't become Southern - we're born that way."

     

Today...is a Southern Living kind of day....


I  just got off the phone with my mother. I had called her on this beautiful Saturday afternoon for a recipe. I often call my mother for recipes. The other day she mentioned that she was making pimento cheese for a friend at work who helped her out when she had car trouble. Since then...I have had pimento cheese on the brain. Plus, Mike loves it. He's away on camping trip with the guys right now and I wanted to have some nice treat for him to come home to. Now, I realize that I could "google" a recipe for pimento cheese....but it wouldn't be the same as my Mama's...and I always love chatting with her....


And there is just something about talking to your Mama about recipes that makes it a Southern Living day. A day where I clean my house, do some meal planning for the week, check in on the roses in the yard....A day where you just feel like a little homemaker. Like you're walking through the pages of the Southern Living. I love Southern Living. My mom has given me a subscription to it for Christmas for years. The day it comes in the mail each month, I get a little skip in my step. I love the recipes, the cleaning and gardening tips, the homemaking and decorating tips. I just curl up and get lost for a while....or, rather...go home for a while. It makes me feel connected to where I come from. I don't get back there too often and I wish I could go home more...but there are always days like today where the South comes to me. Where the spirit just walks around with me. I wave to strangers on the street, cook something decadently southern, and take care of my home. And these days happen more and more as I get older. And I love it. Because I know that the South will always be with me no matter where I am....because its in me, its part of me. Its who I am, who I am proud to be. And thank goodness its true...you can take the girl our of Georgia, but...well...you know how that one goes. 


Day 23: I am grateful to be Southern!!! I am grateful to Southern Living for the wonderful escape it provides once a month, and to my Mama for the subscription...the gift that keeps on giving. I am grateful to my Mama for sharing and teaching and always answering my many, many cooking calls! I love that we can cook together long distance!  I am grateful to be from the South. I am grateful that it stays with me. I am grateful for the lessons, the traditions, the ties to my home. Thank God I'm a County Girl.