#17: 10 things I learned on my vacation "Down South"

1. Flying with Sir is sooo much better than flying by myself.

I'm the type of person who will freak out if I think the plane makes a funny noise, dips a little or does anything besides what I deem "normal." Sir was very good at preventing me from flying into a screaming, flailing, maniacal fit when the landing gear was deployed.

2. Riding around in a 1966 Candy Apple Red Mustang makes me at least 10% hotter.

Damn, I looked good in that car. (And so did Sir.)

3. Mama Sir suuuuuure can cook.

We were constantly eating at her house. It sort of reminded me of my grandmother's house where you say "Naw, I'm not hungry right now" and a plate appeared at your elbow. Except that Mama Sir is much, much too young and good-looking to have grandchildren. She kindly shared some of her recipes with me and I'm looking forward to trying some of them out. (I can hear Sir salivating as he reads this.)

4. 1,000% humidity can literally steal the breath from your lungs.

It can also take a surprisingly well-behaved head of superbly manicured hair and turn it into a big ol' ball of fluff. In 0.23 seconds.

5. Catfish is surprisingly tasty.

Huh. Who'd've thunk it?

6. Sweet Tea is really, really, really sweet.

It's just like ice tea only plus 20 lbs of refined sugar. Good for that extra "Whoo!" feeling. You get your caffeine and your week's allotment of sugar all in one cup!

7. Terms of endearment are... endearing.

I was called "sweetie," "cutie," "darling," "baby" and "honey" everywhere I went. Cashiers, Sir's friends, his mom, everyone had a pet name for me. It's much nicer to have someone refer to you as "Cutie" rather than "Hey you!" when they didn't know your name. It also made me much more likely to want to do things for them.

Wait...


8. When you're a girl, doors in the south magically open for you.

Mama Sir actually yelled at me when I tried to open the car door myself. At first I was very feministic about the whole situation. "I can open my own doors. I am an independent, strong woman who can do anything I want, thank you." But can I tell you a secret? It kind of grew on me. I am now spoiled forever and will expect all future doors to open without me having to lift a finger.

9. Southern boys sure do dress strange.

I noticed this most at the dance club. The girls were dressed the same way any girl going out to a night club would dress. But the guys... they wore everything from polo shirts with the collars flipped up (Hello 1985!) to cowboy hats and boots. The most interesting outfit I saw was overalls with no shirt underneath. I would just like to take this moment to say, "No."

10. It does, in fact, take 15 Mississippi State graduates to grill burgers and brats.

I'm telling you, the sight of 15 grown men hovering around one tiny little grill is hilarious. As soon as we arrived at Sir's friend's house all of the men seemed magnetically drawn to a 1 foot radius around the grill, where they each offered advice regarding the best way to cook meat. I choose a chair out of the way and just laughed. Boys are such suckers for anything involving fire, food and/or mechanical components.

|