Hold the Lemon in Your Iced Tea

I am a Southerner. I will always be a Southerner. Just as Mrs. Carnes lives in the South and still retains her New England identity, you can never take the South out of me. I have too many Southern quirks, too much Georgia clay stains my hands. I could move to all states in the union and still be a Southerner traversing a foreign land. 

It's entertaining to hear stories of fellow Southerners leaving the flock and exploring the North, or the commentary on my Southern accent from my Northern cousins. I have one friend from church who spent spend her first couple years of college at Hope in Michigan. She, of course, brought her bubbly Southern personality up with her, but despite her friendly attempts, she continued to feel shut down and rejected by her new surroundings. Turns out Northerners don't have our same taste for interaction with strangers. 

My cousins from Michigan and I get into debates about whether it's 'pop' or 'soda' or whether 'y'all' is a word or not. It's isn't Christmas without the constant jabs and jokes about whose right and wrong. My other cousin moved from Boston about a decade ago, and we had to go through rigorous training to teach her how to use the letter 'r'. Now, she speaks with any other Southern drawl (but the Boston accent comes back for a week or so whenever she comes home from a visit up north), but still refers to Boston as home. 

I look forward to traveling and experiencing the different cultures that we have even in our own United States. Maybe my opinions will change. Who knows- maybe in a year from now, I'll be a regular Ohio native and never look back. 

*** Fun fact: It is evidently a Northern thing to put lemon in your iced tea. I got in trouble for that one time. I was like, "Hey, lemon sounds good in iced tea." and my mom was like, "How dare you sacrifice your Southern heritage! You are a disgrace to your ancestors!" So FYI, if the waiter asks if you want lemon in your iced tea, JUST SAY NO!