WELCOME TO OUR SIDE OF THE MISSISSIPPI

Looking back, I suppose I was a bit naive or ignorant in my views of the South or more specific, my views regarding the state of Tennessee. Before moving to the Volunteer State I was already familiar with what I thought to be some of the native ways. I had watched the television show Hee-Haw(I remember my mom faithfully tuning in each week to watch Buck Owens). I had heard the terms hillbilly and y'all-meaning, I thought I could speak the language. I knew my fair share of Southern history. I admit, I did have visions of Southern Belles fanning themselves while sipping sweet tea in the sweltering heat. In between feminine gulps they would declare in lilting voices, "My dear, it is a hot one today." Tall, Southern gentleman with silk ribbon ties were waiting to bow to me as they tipped their hats and opened doorways of Southern charm-or so I thought.


Maybe I read too many novels and had been taken in by thoughts of lace gloved manners, magnolia tree romances, and warm breezes on a plantation veranda(Obviously, I did not connect past and current history together). Either way, I should have listened more closely when my best friend of several years warned me, " If you move there-I will not ever be visiting." How did I miss her red flags when for years I had listened to everything else she had said? 


My only explanation, after several mini strokes and little heart stoppages. "Some things, well, they just have to be seen to be believed."