Growing up in Atlanta, Georgia has been awesome. When applying to colleges I was ambushed with the question “Do you want to get out of the South?“. There are so many reasons to get out of the South, and I knew I wanted to leave Atlanta because I wanted to live somewhere else for a bit. I love Atlanta a lot, but I figured I couldn’t stay here forever. So my answer was, “Yes, yes I want to get out of the South”. I love the South, I knew when I left I would miss it. Everyone holds the door for each other, people smile at strangers on walks in a friendly non-creepy way, people stop and let you pet their dog, everyone makes small talk in the grocery store lines, and everyone is just causally outgoingly nice, which is hard to come by when you step outside the South. When I went to California I experienced a lot of culture shock. I didn’t realize that all that niceness was a truly Southern thing, but after I got the door slammed in my face a few times and no one blessed me when I sneezed I realized I love the South even more than I thought.

Yesterday I was reminded why I love the South. I was at a consignment sale with my mom in Sandy Springs. I quickly realized the clothes weren’t really my style, and more mom-ish but I persisted. In the dressing room, there were tens of women (all presumably SEC moms), all of whom were trying on big poofy floral dresses with popping patterns and gossiping about their neighbors and/or their children. One woman said to another, “That dress looks amazing on you, but you can’t get it” The other woman looked confused and replied, “Why?”. Her friend informed her, “You know your neighbor, Randy, he’s a huge Auburn guy, and now that he has a kid that goes there, he’s even more insane”. The woman in the beautiful Auburn orange dress frowned and said, “Ugh you’re so right, can’t give anyone the wrong idea, Go Dawgs”. Another woman called out, “Roll Tide” and then everyone glared at her. I love the South.