My Southern Gentleman vs the North

Sprat in school in Massachusetts. . .

Sprat is in college in Massachusetts, Sprat is about as southern of a boy as there ever was. We are not rednecks but, our hayseeds do show on occasion. The Southern drawl is strong with my oldest, and funny thing, the farther North he went the harsher his accent became.

Sprat’s first college. . .

Sprat’s first college he attended closed due to financial difficulties, it was a small private college. He will graduate from the college that he transferred to when that first one folded. The professors at the first college took great pride in ridiculing my son for his accent and what they believed his upbringing to be. They believed all Southerner’s were dumb and drove around in pick up trucks with deer strapped to the hood. My very sweet and proud Southern boy did not cower or waiver in his studies or his passion, he persevered like all fine Southern gentlemen.

Not everyone ridiculed the Southern gentleman.

Not everyone ridiculed my Southern gentleman, the girls found him very interesting. The little Southern boy from North Carolina had all the young ladies in Massachusetts a little confused. They did not know what to do with him or how to react to him. He was not what they were accustomed therefore, they were intrigued. As you are already aware, my Southern gentleman has found his forever person in the North. The North has infiltrated our clan and Sweet G will officially join our family in 2024. We could not be happier for these two crazy kids.

Sweet G . . .

Sweet G and Sprat became friends through mutual friends at school. This very sweet young lady has taken care of my Southern gentleman when he was sick and took care of both the boys at Thanksgiving this past year. Her petite stature holds a huge heart.

There is a language barrier. . .

There is a language barrier between the North and South, Southerners have little phrases and words Northerners have never heard. If you told a Northerner to “go up yonder and get yur clothes changed.” They may not know where you wanted them to go. “I’m fixin to get supper on the table.” That means you are about to eat. What about a “lightnin bug,” do you know what that is? That is a firefly. Did your mama ever tell you, you were “gonna get a switchin?” If she did that means you are a Southerner and you got your butt “whopped” from time to time. If your daddy ever came home from work and said, “I feel like I have been rode hard and put up wet,” then your daddy had a pretty hard day. I will never forget my mom telling me about a small bathroom at the hospital, she said, “you couldn’t cuss a cat in here without gettin hair in your mouth.”

Sprat’s Southern observations. . .

I will never forget Sprat calling home one day from college to tell us how things were going, this was before Big T was attending. Sprat was telling about lacrosse practice and then stopped and he said, “mama these people do not know what rain smells like.” Laughing out loud, I asked him what he was talking about. He said after practice he and several guys walked out of the locker-room and he took a deep breath and said he could smell rain coming. After he had voiced this observation to his friends they all looked at him like he had three heads. Apparently that is not something they noticed or had ever heard before but, in the South you know rain is coming because the air smells different right before a rain shower.

Sprat called another day after practice just to talk and let us know how things were going. He said, “Mama, the coach was playing a good song on the radio during practice and I asked him to cut it up.” According to Sprat, coach did not know what he was talking about. Coach said, what do you want cut up and Sprat replied the radio so we can hear the song. This is another one of those old Southern sayings. Cut it up, referring to the volume on the radio.

Stay tuned as we start the Wedding fun. . .

These two crazy kids

How and Where Did You Meet Your Love?

How did you meet your love?

How did you meet your love/forever person? I have talked with the boys many times about how I met their dad, the love of my life. Do not remember how the subject came up the first time but since the boys have been in college we have talked about it more. Our story is not all that exciting but it is somewhat unique. In fact I was telling Big T about our second first date on the way back from dropping Sprat off at the airport the other day. It is always good that your kids know how much mom and dad love each other.

How we met. . .

Que the pomp and circumstance music as I had just graduated college and secured my first official job with my college degree. I would be working nights in a lab doing bench tests for doctor’s offices and hospitals. One of my good friends from college was working in this same lab so I felt pretty good about the whole thing. In fact we would be roommates until the hubbs and I were married. The night manager introduced me to my lab partner ( Hallmark sappy music ). Yes, it was my future husband and he was a strapping young man in his white lab coat. When I was introduced to him I reached out to shake his hand and yes, my heart dropped to the floor when our hands touched. (I am not making this up)

The Courtship. . .

Our Courtship was quite unique since we worked together, you really get to know the real person when you work with them ten hours a day. You cannot hide your true self in that situation. Our very first argument was over whether what I considered our first date was indeed our first date. According to my hubby it was not. I ask you, if the boy picks the girl up and takes her to a concert and boy pays for everything, is that not a date? The hubby does not believe this to be true and proceeded to announce it in front of everyone at work one night.

First fight, first date?

The hubby picked me up and we went to a concert and hubby did not believe this to be a date. To this day his idea of a date is a mystery to me. I was mortified in front of everyone when he announced that was not a date. It would be three months before there would be mention of a date again. The hubbs did ask me out for dinner and a movie, this was apparently his idea of a date. I was very excited because my heart did still skip a beat every time we were together even though he had made me furious earlier.

The Date. . .

He picked me up and we went to a local restaurant that offered horse and buggy rides out front. I had to stop and visit the horses for a bit before we went in for dinner. The restaurant was very crowded so we had a few drinks in the bar while we waited on our table. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and great conversation and he asked if I would like to go on a horse and buggy ride. I could have turned cartwheels I was so excited. No one had ever done anything so romantic for me. Our bill came and my dear hubby did not have enough money to pay the bill. Being the lady that I was raised to be I offered to help pay. I looked at him quite sadly and asked; does this mean I do not get my horse and buggy ride? He simply replied, No, we will have our horse and buggy ride.

The Horse and buggy

We drove to an ATM, this was before true debit cards and the hubby did not have a credit card, to get cash for the horse and buggy. It was quite chilly that night for a buggy ride but I would not have missed that for the world. We were the last ride before the precious horses were put to bed. They took us around town and had a blanket to wrap up in since is was quite cool. This is what my husband calls our first date and I guess I will go along with it. He is a true romantic after all.

Stay tuned you might hear more about our true romance. . .

The hubbs and I a few months before he popped the question.