Caught you! You continued reading because you thought the word was immigration! I am not at all sure what my beliefs are on that subject nor am I prepared to share the ones I do have! Integration on the other hand, let's discuss! Six years...that is the length of time we have lived here. The later three of the six years we have tried to integrate (as much as possible for Yankees) into the "Southern Culture!" If anyone of you knows how it feels to try to integrate into this culture then you understand my reasoning for blogging! When we first arrived, we received all the "Southern Hospitality" you could imagine. They ranged from housing Mark for three weeks before he could find us a place, dinner invites, a whole week of meals (provided by people we hardly knew) for our family after the birth of our son, and tons of information on the town and it's quirkiness! I was extremely excited by this new culture that was interested in us, in people! Unfortunately that lasted only a couple of months! Eventually we were noticed for our differences! We became the Outsiders. Let me move on a couple years to our first attempt to integrate! We joined a small Baptist church here! We felt that the Pastor and it's Co Pastors resembled that of our much larger church back home! The Preacher (what you call a "Brother" here in the South) was phenomenal! Every sermon touched my heart, until we heard his last! The Pastor and Co Pastor both left the church right around the same time leaving a gap, a hole in our Sunday morning rituals! We left the church shortly after! We didn't believe we would find another place like home! Whaa, Whaa! This is starting to sound like a sob story, huh? Well I think my point is that we have been outsiders for way to long! We have decided collectively to call this tiny town our home (someone please give my mom some oxygen--she has stopped breathing! He hee)! I want us to connect, to become integrated. I want the kids to have friends, to learn to build relationships! We have talked about this...the need for friendships! Ours have come and gone in the six years that we have been here! One thing for sure, it has taught us to enjoy each other! My husband is my best friend! Someone I want to spend every moment with (which has been true for 6 years)! We do recognize though that we long for friends outside our relationship, as well! We recognize the health of our family is dependent on making connections with people, needing to integrate! I want to thank the pioneer of our blogging (Stand up and take a bow, you know who you are!) for helping us build that bridge! We are trying! Please be patient with the outsiders as we change. I will tell you that our house is filled with words containing "y'all" and "mam" and "coke" (okay I lied we still say "pop"). We might even show up in your churches, on your caller ID, or just pop in to say "hi." Till then...have a Yankee free day!
Caught you! You continued reading because you thought the word was immigration! I am not at all sure what my beliefs are on that subject nor am I prepared to share the ones I do have! Integration on the other hand, let's discuss! Six years...that is the length of time we have lived here. The later three of the six years we have tried to integrate (as much as possible for Yankees) into the "Southern Culture!" If anyone of you knows how it feels to try to integrate into this culture then you understand my reasoning for blogging! When we first arrived, we received all the "Southern Hospitality" you could imagine. They ranged from housing Mark for three weeks before he could find us a place, dinner invites, a whole week of meals (provided by people we hardly knew) for our family after the birth of our son, and tons of information on the town and it's quirkiness! I was extremely excited by this new culture that was interested in us, in people! Unfortunately that lasted only a couple of months! Eventually we were noticed for our differences! We became the Outsiders. Let me move on a couple years to our first attempt to integrate! We joined a small Baptist church here! We felt that the Pastor and it's Co Pastors resembled that of our much larger church back home! The Preacher (what you call a "Brother" here in the South) was phenomenal! Every sermon touched my heart, until we heard his last! The Pastor and Co Pastor both left the church right around the same time leaving a gap, a hole in our Sunday morning rituals! We left the church shortly after! We didn't believe we would find another place like home! Whaa, Whaa! This is starting to sound like a sob story, huh? Well I think my point is that we have been outsiders for way to long! We have decided collectively to call this tiny town our home (someone please give my mom some oxygen--she has stopped breathing! He hee)! I want us to connect, to become integrated. I want the kids to have friends, to learn to build relationships! We have talked about this...the need for friendships! Ours have come and gone in the six years that we have been here! One thing for sure, it has taught us to enjoy each other! My husband is my best friend! Someone I want to spend every moment with (which has been true for 6 years)! We do recognize though that we long for friends outside our relationship, as well! We recognize the health of our family is dependent on making connections with people, needing to integrate! I want to thank the pioneer of our blogging (Stand up and take a bow, you know who you are!) for helping us build that bridge! We are trying! Please be patient with the outsiders as we change. I will tell you that our house is filled with words containing "y'all" and "mam" and "coke" (okay I lied we still say "pop"). We might even show up in your churches, on your caller ID, or just pop in to say "hi." Till then...have a Yankee free day!
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