It was December 27th, five years ago, that my wife, daughter and I arrived in Myrtle Beach. My mother-in law was riding with me and we had a caravan of three vehicles that arrived in the dark. We had planned the drive for two days, but didn't count on the four hours of delays the day after Christmas, so we arrived in Richmond, Virginia at 11 pm. the first day.
My wife and I ran out to Publix before they closed to get a few things and what we found was-southern hospitality. The store was about to close and we walked up to the register and the young man asked if he could take our items out of the cart for us. We looked at each other and said okay, but it was odd. He wanted to bag everything and then he asked if he could walk them out to our car. At this point we were laughing until he got to our car. I popped the trunk and he asked, "Can I put the bags in your trunk?" I said, "If you do, you're going to have to come back and put everything in our refrigerator too."
Looking back at some of my blogs that first month, here are some of the highlights:
1. My friend Larry e-mailed me saying he, "Couldn't wait until I was writing southern." Just letting y'all know, he's still waiting.
2. My mother-in-law tried to encourage me to go to the eye doctor. She said, "If I give you a dollar, will you get your eyes checked?" Keep in mind, she sat next to me for two days and about 17 hours of driving and I never had a problem. I told her, "If you give me a chicken I might consider it." I'm going to have to do that this year.
3. Driving back to Myrtle Beach from Atlanta where I dropped my daughter off at school, I got stuck in a five hour traffic jam because we had a half inch of snow and ice suddenly on the ground. I had to get a hotel room that night at midnight and drove home the next day. I almost had thrown my shovel in the trunk and I would have made headlines, 'New Jersey man shovels South Carolina highway." Here I am below posing and possibly the only time I'll be holding a shovel in South Carolina.
4. We got our driver's license and in South Carolina you're allowed to smile for the picture. It still looks good.
5. I did a little ice skating on the beach in sneakers after watching some kids do it. Sorry, no pictures of that, but it would have been a great picture.
6. In discussing building our new house I was told that the toilet was going to be in a little room enclosed by a wall. I told the guy I really didn't want the wall built, but we have it. I did figure a way around the wall, I use the other bathroom for reading and it is much larger too.
7. At 8 am on a Sunday I was walking out of a supermarket lot with a small bag and it started to drizzle. A car pulling into the lot, suddenly stopped and asked, "Hey buddy, need a lift?" Why would a guy going into the lot stop a complete stranger in a light drizzle and offer a ride? What's wrong with these people? (Answer: I'm from Jersey and they are southern.)
8. Finally, the biggest news of the month was something my wife and kids were very excited about-I was finally getting rid of my flip phone and joining the new generation with an i-phone. This is what I said in my blog in mid-January: "I told our mortgage guy I was "Making the switch." He said, "Don't do it, it's the downfall of society. When I got my i phone my beard was black and now it's grey." I don't have a beard, will I be able to grow hair back now? I told my dad on the phone yesterday that I was going to get a "real" phone. He said, "You mean a landline?" I guess I can call it anything I want-maybe George."
The five years have gone by quickly, but it has been great. I'm not southern yet, but I have slowed down some and I'm only "working" three days a week now instead of seven. This is blog number 570. This is some of the highlights from the first month, I'm probably going to have to do one blog on some of my favorite blogs in the next week. You know I'm going to mention Cocoa Krispies and chicken and I know you can't wait.
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