Thankful Mondays in November - Post 4

 

For my last Thankful Monday I want to be thankful for something probably somewhat corny. I'm thankful for being Southern. More specifically I'm thankful I live in beautiful rural Mississippi and have had the opportunity to grow up on a farm and continue to live this rural lifestyle.

 

The older I get the more appreciative I am of this way of life and everything that goes with it: family, tight knit community, freedom, independence, and faith.

 

I'm thankful that I live in a pretty, peaceful, rural town. I mean my immediate neighbor has horses, and the neighbor beside him has goats, sheep, ducks, chickens, geese, guineas, rabbits, dogs, horses, and a partridge in a pear tree. Maybe one day we'll get to have a place in the country too, but until then I live in the next best thing. Macon is not perfect, as is nowhere on God's gentle earth, but it does have its strong points. The people are hard working and friendly and you can always find someone willing to give you a hand.

 

I'm thankful I grew up with a family that is so closely tied to farming. The knowledge I learned from my great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents serves me well as a married lady and I'm thankful every day for that. I can cook. I can sew. I can bake. I can garden and put up that garden. I can hunt and cook most anything wild. I know how to make do and it's fun amazing my husband. (I cooked pancakes one morning and we were out of syrup, doh! So I just made some. He was like what?  Where did that come from?) We were "green" before it was a catchword.

 

There are all these corny saying about being "Southern," but it truly is a singular part of the world. I remember one of my friends was in vet school and a girl from New York City was in her class. I ate lunch with them one day at the vet school and she asked could we answer a question. Why were all the people on the street telling her, hello? Apparently in New York you don't tell complete strangers, good morning. We explained that people down here are just friendly. She was so relieved. Me, I was completely amazed that she thought there was some ulterior motive to someone saying good morning or hello as they passed you on the street.

 

I've not traveled far, out west a little, Texas, Oklahoma, as far north as Louisville, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, etc. but I'm always happy to go home. I think as is anyone. So maybe more than anything I'm thankful for home. Not so much a specific place, though having a house to call your own is especially nice, but an area that you identify with, the place where your roots are and your family story is written.

 

 So, to recap I'm thankful for:

 

1. You the reader who allows me to ramble and feel like my story matters. 

2. Family who loves and grounds me.

3. Faith that builds me up and comforts me.

4. My home and heritage which is just as much a part of me as the air I breathe.

 

(click on the links above to read the prior week's entries)

 

Thank you for following along with this series and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Have a great day my lovelies!