I left my home in Tennessee on a July morning over thirty-five years ago. Before that, any traveling I had done was in the South. And except for the two years I was in college in Florida, that travelling was very limited. If you weren’t raised down South, then it’s hard to explain how it becomes a part of who you are.
And yet here I was, leaving behind everything I knew. Even though it’s hard for me to remember all the details of that day, I’m sure I had mixed feelings – I was leaving the place I had known as home, but I was getting ready to embark on a new adventure in my life. If I recall correctly, I cried all the way to the Kentucky state line!
Since I first left “home” over three decades ago, I have driven back and forth over that same route many times. There have been so many changes – changes in the route with better roads and shorter drive times. Changes in the people – loved ones have married, raised families, moved away, and some of them, sadly, have passed on. Of course, I have changed too. I have experienced a life with ups and downs, joys and sorrows, just like all of God’s creation.
I am not the same person who left that Tennessee home over 30 years ago. But one thing that hasn’t changed is that even though I have lived out of the South more than twice as long as I lived in it, I still think of myself as a Southerner. And when I do leave Tennessee, I usually cry all the way to the Kentucky state line!
Blessings
Treasure in Jars of Clay 
I don’t really live in the north – it’s the Midwest – and I like it a lot. I’ve got lots of wonderful friends here. It’s hard to describe how you feel about the South to people who haven’t lived there. 🙂
You know I want to be in the South again someday. Or at least travel there every other week!
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Well we hope you become a southerner again someday lol;) Although I’ve lived in the north longer than I’ve lived in the south, I don’t consider myself a northerner but more of an in-betweener;) I’m glad my children are southerners though;)
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