With the craze of shows like Duck Dynasty and Swamp People, you can' t help but fall in love with the "down home," vivid, and over dramatized characters that make the show. They make you exclaim, "they are not serious!" The crazy thing is, that's how it is in the south. Being a country boy, I can't tell you how fun it was to run barefoot in the rain, make mud pies, stand in the big ditches and catch tadpoles, climb the pecan trees, eat crawfish and shrimp until I burst, and camp out in our big backyard. People who grow up in the south, more precisely country towns, have a natural affinity to nature and animals. It's much more comforting to be outside doing something and enjoying your land rather than inside watching the tube all day. Many country towns are living museums in their own right. They create backdrop of what once was innovation in our society. At one time they were at the forefront of modernism.
This was our idea of fun. There was such a simplistic view of things back at home in the country living the country life. All those memories culminated into a mental buffet that will keep me full until I take my last breath. I can't imagine how I would be if I didn't have such a carefree upbringing! My grandfather had a farm that had every animal. Chasing the chickens, being chased by the geese, running with the cows, running from the bulls,and of course trying to catch rabbits! When we got hungry, there was no McDonald's because we had a farm "E I E I O." We ate off of the land that we tilled.
As I got older, I realized that I stopped having that fun. I no longer sat outside and looked at the clear night sky with its never ending stars twinkling within it. I didn't want to drink fresh made lemonade on the porch in the rocking chair in the summer. I didn't want to run around the big magnolia trees smelling the sweetly scented petals that adorned the grown below it. I just wanted to do what everyone else did and surround myself with television, electronics, and the internet. It seemed that as my youth and innocence began to disappear, so did my high regard for country living.
Once I got into college, I tried to stay away from my hometown as much as I could. I would shudder when people asked where I was from because for some reason, in school, people thought that folk from country towns didn't know how to conduct themselves in big cities or get along with city folk because thy weren't necessarily the "sharpest tools in the shed." I realize now that I could easily prove them wrong by telling them that a well-versed and well-cultured individual like myself was born and raised in a country town. I always considered myself well-cultured because my mother ensured that I was exposed to a myriad of things in life--her goal for my siblings and me were to be cultural chameleons. Nonetheless, telling your peers you were from a small "town" with a population less than that of the university you were attending was a bit embarrassing. Then you would hear the incessant jokes about in-breeding, one toothed, fast talking inhabitants and I was none the impressed with it.
I live in a big city now: Houston, TX which is still in the south and has a rich heritage of cowboys, rangers, and trail rides in its own right but has grown to envelop that culture along the others that have sought home within its boundaries. The most diverse city, the New York of the South, is one that I call home now. I've only been here a year and my slight "twang" still hasn't faded so the natives can point me out like a watermelon in a cherry patch. It's okay now, however. Being from the country is "sexy" and "cute" and people just love country folk these days. They want to know the recipes, the line dances, and of course they want to party with the best of them. I've learned to embrace where I'm from; those were my humble beginnings which gave way to a confident present where instead of shunning who I was, I praise what where I'm from taught me. The stories I have are the best entertainment for my friends who are city folk.
They encompass many different cultures and creeds and we can share so much of ourselves by enlightening one another on where we come from. Of course you have to get used to not drinking liquor in unopened containers on the street, popping fireworks in many residential areas, not violating the noise ordinance because of the domino and card games, and of course not having that "authentic" good food that you were brought up on. When I think of home, I think of Steel Magnolias with much stronger accents and a less regard for fashion but everyone sticks togethers, loves each other, and wants to simply live a happy life.
Here in the city, it's about staying fit, staying connected, staying successful, and staying in the know while back at home it's about making it to the Bingo hall on time on Tuesdays to get a good seat. Still, I am enjoying what I am learning and seeing here. This experience lets me know that there is much more out there and keeps me focused on being a part of it. I know now that it's true that you can be country in the city,however you can't really be city in the country--weird huh?
The next time you want to take a vacation, DON'T think big, think country: go to a small town and truly relax. Enjoy the fresh air, southern hospitality, the splendor of simplicity, the good eating and plentiful drinking. You won't be disappointed and the worst thing that could happen to you is that you have fun doing something and being somewhere you haven't been before. Paris, Tokyo, Milan, and Rome will always be there when you get back.
I wanted to end this post with a bang so here it goes... BANG.
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