zoomaru

In the South, the American South, it's perfectly respectable to greet friends and strangers with "hey." In the wrong mouth, say a New Jersey mouth, it would sound confrontational and aggressive. In the South, it's friendly, familar. It needs to be delivered with a certain laconic drawl. Not so much of a drawl as letting the word not become a weapon. In the local lexicon it's less formal than "hi" and when I'm greeted with it, i feel like I'm home.

I grew up in the south, although I don't think my childhood was particularly southern. My father's family had relocated here from pennsylvania, my mother had fled texas to be here. I remember when some of my texas relatives claimed to be from the south. That is SO not the south. It's southern, I'll give you that, as in map-wise. But in attitude, it's its own planet. It may share some of the trappings of the traditional south, an affinity for the rebel flag and drawls, but its a whole nother flavor.

I lived away from the south for 14 years and when I moved back, it was like putting on my favorite sweater. ah... good iced tea, sweet or unsweet. barbecue, lots of barbecue. when we first arrived here we sampled as many BBQ joints as we could find. My personal mission was to try every hush puppy known to man. I have a particular weakness for hush puppies. There are two species of puppies, sweet fritters and crunchier onion spiked varieties. Virginia Ham is foreign to most folks. It's salty and rather dry, but on a bisuit with a little strawberry jam it's heaven. My mom introduced me to ther combination of salty ham or bacon with jam. She called it a "Texas Treat" and i took her word for it that was a formal name for the concoction. My texas cousins laughed quite a bit at that, never heard of such a thing.

What a way to end a year. The tsunamis, responsible for the deaths of over 122,000 people should humble us all.

In a horrifying blink of an eye, thousands and thousands of people were swept away to their deaths leaving hundreds of thousands to suffer through the aftermath. More will suffer from disease and famine while so many here will worry about wearing the right name brand sneaker or jean. The things we let ourselves get worked up about. The lame reasons we use for being rude to someone. The missed opportunities to let someone know how much they mean to you. Shouldn't we all just get it now? Life is short and can evaporate in an instance. Grab every happiness, savor it, and always remember it, there are many many people who don't have the luxury of being happy.