Southern Hospitality

Please excuse my absence- haven't been feeling much like myself this week. Turns out my thyroid may be trying to rebel against me. Not too much going on here, but this was a topic Peter and I discussed a lot this week- we love southern hospitality. It seems to be true; most people in the south are friendly. Want to help you out. Or just have a two-sentence conversation in passing.

This week I made a quick stop at a grocery store I normally don't go to. When I was getting ready to pay, the checker asked if I had a Winn Dixie card. I did not. So the checker called out for the woman who had gone through the line before me (and now had one foot out the door) to come back. The checker asked for this woman's card again, scanned it for me, and waved her on. I've never experienced that before. And I saved $8.

We are noticing some unspoken rules that are practiced in our neighborhood. When you see someone walking by, you call out a "hello" and have a 30 second conversation as they walk past your yard. If there is a dog, you also acknowledge it. If you (or the person you see) are mowing the lawn, you both wave. You also wave to any car that drives past your house. They wave back. Motorcyclists nod their greetings. We are surprised to see that everyone seems to keep to this code. Also that people seem to spend so much time outside and in their yards. Each evening when we walk with our dogs we have several conversations with people we've never met. Everyone comments on our dogs. Even a teenage guy working on his car stopped what he was doing to have a small chat.

And in closing, the second picture in the "You know you're in the South when.." collection.