Sweet Home Alabama – My Roots

15Jun08

Summer days are gone too soon…

 

 

        I can honestly say that Alabama is my home. I was born in Mobile and was raised there until I was seven. Most of my mother’s family lives in Mobile and most of my father’s family lives outside of Birmingham or outside of Atlanta. Those are my roots. This past week I’ve been visiting with my Granny and indulging myself in some southern hospitality-filled summer fun and relaxation.

 

        Granny’s place is a grey blue two-story house on a hill with a large front veranda and a small back garden and pool. The veranda is your typical southern-style front porch with rocking chairs lining the sides and ferns hung about the structure. From the car to the front door, the air is not only filled with the usual mosquitoes, but a light scent of gardenias which line the sides of the house. After a loud, warm welcome and several hugs, the kitchen is the first stop before unpacking. Passing the living room, which has a newly decorated honey-beige theme, I saw the hideous blue recliner my Grumpy will not let us get rid of. Grumpy is my grandfather and is really a sweetheart, but because he is always grumpy and stubborn we named him such.

 

        The first thing we do is eat! Any true southerner knows that food=love. Corn bread, fried catfish, fried okra, turnip greens, and ending with apple pie equals a lot of love in my family. Some of my favorite dishes at home usually include seafood. Because we live so close to the gulf and seafood is my favorite genre of food, I always go to this great seafood restaurant on the water looking out into the bay. One time we were there, a huge thunderstorm came, and we watched the sea and waves rock up close to the floor-to-ceiling windows. The lighting was so close, and the poor birds outside couldn’t fly against the wind. However, soon as it had started it was over. I love the seafood and thunderstorms here. I loved that day.

 

Grumpy and I have a tradition of going to the oyster bar and eating raw oysters. You sit there as the guy cracks open the shells and you cover the oyster in cocktail sauce and slurp them down. I have a record of having eaten 36 oysters, but that was a long time ago. A dozen is good for me now. So good! Then we go to Old Dutch and finish off eating banana splits at the oldest ice cream parlor in town. I say we have a great tradition.

 

 

yum yum…at Wentzill’s Oyster House

 

        Sports are an important part of my family. I am not sports-inclined whatsoever—which is why I dance and love the arts, but I like to hang out with my family and watch some of the well…cuter players. What can I say? Haha. My dad’s side of the family is all into football and soccer. If the Tennessee Volunteers are playing you will not be able to watch anything else in the house. My mom’s side of the family—more so Granny—loves golf and baseball. She loves to watch Tiger. I like Lee Westwood. And we both watch the Atlanta Braves and love Jeff F. Next week, I am going to my first Braves game in Atlanta with my cousins and I am so excited!

 

        Much of who I am is related to Alabama. Although I love city life, it’s always nice to go home to family and remember good times and make new good times. Alabama to me is really a far away place compared to my day-to-day life, but every time I leave here I have a better since of who I am and who I want to be. Maybe it’s the long, deep life talks with Granny on the back deck. Or maybe its gaining patience by listening to Grumpy complain about “those young people”. Maybe it’s all the fried seafood that adds a few more pounds to my character. Who knows? Everything just seems better when you’re with the ones you love—your roots.

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