A Lady by Way of Southern Shores ("Ways I Want the Kid to be a Carolina Girl")

I promised a video, and it's buried here in my diatribe, so keep reading!  Here's a photo to tide you over in the meantime:

This has nothing to do with anything.  But she's wearing pink patent loafers!

For those who aren't aware, I grew up in a bunch of vastly different places.  Abbreviated life story of the Cap'n: birth to age 7 in various towns in North Carolina; age 8 in Barbados (yes, that was the beginning of the whole pirate obsession); ages 9-16 in Spokane, WA; finished high school in a San Francisco Bay Area 'burb; finally down to Los Angeles for college (U-C-L-A! Fight! Fight! Fight!).  Adult life has since been split between LA and SF/surrounding area.  It's kind of an understatement to say that I got really used to being the new kid when I was growing up (until college, the longest I was in one school was 3 years). But I had a varied childhood and saw a lot more at an earlier age than most of my peers; wouldn't trade it for anything.

In looking at the two major bookends of my life, the Carolinas and California, I've been thinking a lot about what kinds of viewpoints I hope HD picks up in life.  Since her daddy has spent 30 of his 31 years in Cali, it's up to me to represent the Southern side of things.

My folks are Southern through and through -- they even retired in Charleston (the ultimate American pirate port, arrrrr!!!), which is as Old South as you can get.  I was definitely raised with a strong Southern influence cast over my life through them and my extended family, no matter where certain years were spent.  We took HD to Charleston for the first time earlier this year and had a blast.  People can say all they want about Southern bigotry, overzealous religion, or insane eating habits (they'd be right in a lot of cases) -- there are still amazing things about that part of the country.

Here are the Top Southern Influences/Ideas I Hope HD Has in her Life:

1)  A strong sense of community (Southerners are GREAT at this, whether it's the gossip mill in a small town, the regular church attendance, or a huge pie-bearing welcome wagon anytime a new neighbor moves in).  This kind of ties into general pride for any group you belong to.  You've never seen true team spirit or intense sorority sisterhood until you've visited an ACC school (Boston doesn't count).

2)  MANNERS.  I cannot stress this enough.  We're talking way beyond "please and thank you."  I miss "sir" and "ma'am," men standing slightly when a women sits or rises from the table, and making eye contact with strangers in the street and giving them a smile or nod.  Ain't nothing wrong with a little common courtesy (which I need to remind myself everyday to practice when I commute on the train with the blind masses).

3)  Cute and ladylike clothes.  Working on this currently, as evidenced by this sundress:

4)  Southerners are suckers for live music.  There's a lot more singing and dancing going on at random down there.  I love the sense of joy and unselfconsciousness it emanates.   HD would fit right in.

5)   Taking life a bit more slowly.  Maybe it's the accent, but Southerners are kings when it comes to pausing and allowing something to sink in.  Living near and working in a hectic city makes me very GOGOGO all the time.  My own mama can't understand about half of my crazy speed speak.  In fact, this is what I must sound like to her: