Southern Stories, Interviews, and Artifacts
The Semmens wedding was the perfect excuse to celebrate surviving this hellscape of a year, and I was more than ready. John Semmens, the groom and now grown-up that I’d started babysitting when I was fifteen years old, was getting married. Although the Semmens had moved from south Georgia years before, our families had remained […]
This post is part one of what is a three-part series about the BIG fun we had at my cousin’s wedding in Birmingham, Alabama. Family weddings don’t get any better than this one, y’all. We received the Save the Date for my cousin’s wedding in February, so it wasn’t like I had no idea I […]
For those of us who choose to worship in small churches, at least those in southwest Georgia, our responsibilities are clearly defined. There are so few of us, we all have to do most everything. Like – everything. At Elmodel Presbyterian, at the corner of Georgia Highway 37 and Jericho Road, each woman […]
Jamie introduced our boys to the empire that is the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) when Colin was about two years old. Jamie isn’t really a devotee, but when he realized the children didn’t know who Andre the Giant was, he recognized the opportunity for education. One Easter we took the boys to “big church” […]
When I was a little girl, Mama cleaned house by first opening all the windows to “air things out and let the sunshine in.” Then, she put a Broadway soundtrack on the record player. I was of the age that chores were fun and helping Mama made me feel accomplished. She taught me how to […]
Weather in South Georgia is not unpredictable. We always have super-hot summers and mild, short springs. Fall is usually an extension of summer with days warm enough for short-sleeves lasting through October, sometimes even November. Winter doesn’t really start until around January and even then, we can count on cold rain more than hard, deep […]
There are lots of things I don’t mind waiting for: the start of a concert, those days before a baby is born, for Christmas to come. There is an anticipation associated with that kind of waiting, and it colors the wait with bright, vibrant expectant excitement. That kind of wait tastes like cinnamon. I don’t […]
Most of the time, Mama and Daddy answered endless questions from Ginny and me with thoughtful, thorough answers. There was nothing we couldn’t ask that they wouldn’t try to explain. However, when I complained about the fact that something was unfair, Daddy’s favorite answer was, “When you meet fair in the road, come get me.” […]