Tuesday, February 3, 2009

I Am Not a Southerner

I was born in New Hampshire and raised by Northern parents in the Washington, DC, area (which gets a lot of snow). When I married, we moved to North Carolina where I have lived ever since. However, for all the time I have spent here in this lovely state, I am not much more of a Southerner than I was as a child. How do I know this? I looked out the window this morning, hoping for major snow. Major snow in my thinking is more than 4 inches. The weather report has been predicting major snow for days now. What I saw was about an inch! Big deal! Booooring! Not enough for a snowman! That is my Northern girl response.

My three little children had a different response -- they leapt around the room like crazy little monkeys. They were so excited about finally getting a whole bunch of snow. LOL! You can tell that they are all native born Southerners .... They want me off this computer so I can start searching for enough mittens and scarves to cover them and get them out there.  

On the subject of Southern traits.... My little boy says he does not have a last name ~ he has a front name and a back name.... I am told that this is an Appalachian trait and I think it is used in the book, Christy by Catherine Marshall. I can guarantee he did not get this phrase from any of us. It must be genetic! While doing research on his family history, we discovered that he and his sister's family history is from a small cove in the Tennessee mountains. This explains so much about our adopted children...but can Appalachian traits really be inborn? These two run up a mountain trail but want to ride in a wagon on a straight away sidewalk. They love peas with honey ~ even better if the peas are frozen! They will eat the peas with any utensil. Our Goldilocks is a mountain goat crossing a stream, but often falls walking up the stairs in our home. It is all very interesting ~ to me at least. Well, I am going to put on my happy Southern face and go out there and enjoy the snow as if it is "the biggest snowfall the world has ever seen" (my dd's quote).

Blessings, Dawn

5 comments:

  1. Some of my family lived in a little cove in Tennessee too. Maybe I'm related to your kids:-)


    I gave you an award on my blog. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristenph/652392/


    (No pressure to pass it on!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Have your kids tried their peas with ketchup? I love them this way and it is even more fun with a butter knife trying to balance them. Honey is great but ketchup is more fun. I remember when I lived in the south laughing at the mere thought of snow would send everyone to the market to stock up and what I would call a dusting shut the town down. Ya'll have fun in the snow. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I liked your post about snow--we got a freak storm a few months back, and now the 5-year-old started wishing it would snow every day! She has no idea what a rarity she lived to be a part of.


    Your new diet sounds, well, interesting. I'd love for you to post more on specific recipes and results, as the Lord leads you. Sounds like the cleanest things in your home will be your colons (smile).


    God bless you, Dawn.



    Belinda

    www.homeschoolblogger.com/bbullard

    ReplyDelete
  4. I grew up in N.E. also. I woke up to see the yard looking like someone had sprinkled it with powered sugar. Then I heard they cancelled public school. I had to laugh. What a waste. Of course my kids didn't know the publics were out & meanie that I am, we had school. I get such a kick out of how even the threat of snow gets people stirred up, don't you?

    Hope you all did have fun though.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm probably more of a southerner "at heart", just becz I don't like snow at all! Don't like it too hot either - ugh! :-)

    ReplyDelete