I grew up in the 'arm-pit' of North Carolina. I know that sounds weird but if you are from my neck of the woods you know that means Fayetteville, NC. Some folks will say that North Carolina is not really 'southern'. I guess that's like saying biscuits and gravy don't go together. Fayetteville is very much a melting pot of people with an army and air force base just outside of town. So there are a lot of people always moving in and out. But there is still that 'southern' base of folks that keep our heritage rich and thriving.
I never thought much about the differences between North and South till I was much older. I thought everyone in the world had sweet tea with every meal and red-eye gravy was available in every upscale restaurant. Putting peanuts in your coke was just what you did. I didn't know why. You just did! So when I grew up and actually made it past the Mason Dixon line, I was shocked to order a sweet tea and received a glass of tea and a packet of sweetener. I mean seriously? Was our waitress as dumb as a box of rocks? Bless her soul...
Flashback to my 'southern spring times'...I remember never wearing shoes, drinking from the water hose behind the house, staying gone all day until the streetlights came on and parents 'hollered' for you to come home. As I got older we would go back out after 'supper' and play spotlight for hours then all the kids would lie in the grass and stare silently up at the sky and wait for a shooting star.
I think I had a pretty good childhood here in the south. Some days I wish I could do it all over again...
