Why do we Ramble so in the Deep South?



Because of houses like this one, that's why.  This is the kind of house that every Southern girl dreams that she will live in one day- a house full of memories and love and crazy stories about relatives that smelled of vanilla and mothballs.  A house with a hundred years of history of family reunions, good times with cousins, hunts, shoots, fish fry events, weddings, divorces, funerals and funeral food, and good times spent on the front porch shelling peas and drinking sweet tea.  And whether we grew up in a Tidewater mansion or in a three bedroom rancher, many of our stories are the same in the South, regardless of our upbringing.  I believe those stories are what tie us all together-stories about crazy preachers, old ladies losing their skirts at July funerals, and Grandmothers who put tinfoil in their windows to keep the Catholics from taking us all away to hell in the middle of the night- we all have these stories.
Every family has that one branch of relatives that we just don't talk about with civilized folk because they are either in jail, just got out of jail or are about to head back to jail.  Most of us also have a branch of the tree that thinks that they are just a little bit better than we are, regardless of whether or not we are more accomplished or have smarter and better looking children.  We all have that one friend who makes the best pimiento cheese or cheese straws and can be counted on to feed an army in a day's notice, and we all have that one Aunt who does the flowers at everyone's wedding and can't say no to a soul.
Every small town has the guy who just "isn't quite right".  He is the town mascot, and at one time or another, he has stayed the night at almost everyone's house in town.  We love that guy- he's our crazy - and out of town folks need to leave him alone.
I've traveled the country far and wide, and I honestly believe that Southerners ramble because we have the best stories with the most interesting characters. Our truths are always stranger than East Coast fiction.  I look forward to sharing with you some of the characters that I have met along my path, as well as the daily things that happen to me that are hilarious, sad, or that might just leave you shaking your head. Like all true Southern story tellers, I reserve the right to embellish as I go- because that, after all, is how Southern legends are created.  Talk to y'all soon!

1 comment:

  1. Yes. Here we don't ask if you have any crazy folk in the family--we ask which side they're on :)

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