You can go back again, but it won't be the same.

I have always considered myself a Southern Girl.  I was born in Kentucky, which I know was a border state, but my hometown was definitely southern.  I went to school at Auburn, and have lived most of my life in a variety of southern states (Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana and Tennessee.)  I love God, my husband, our kids, my friends, cooking, reading, gardening, having friends over, and SEC football. . . just like any good Southern Girl.


But there are a few things that keep me from being fully southern.  


I was primarily raised by my mama, who is from Ohio, and quite proud of the fact that she was born and raised above the Mason-Dixon.  To this day, she will tell you that if she could, she would move somewhere further north, like maybe Chicago.  


I married a guy who was born in Kentucky too, but he did most of his growing up in Florida, which anyone will tell you is not part of the "real South."  He doesn't hunt, fish, or go camping, but he loves barbeque and football.  He's a semi-southern guy.


My sweet husband and I have moved around a fair amount for his job.  In 2003 it took us from Alabama to Indiana for what we thought would be a two to three year stint in the midwest.  Nearly six years later, we found ourselves moving back to Alabama.  While we were thrilled to be moving back, we quickly discovered that our time away had changed us, and the things that fit us so well before didn't anymore.  Like it or not, this Southern Girl now had some Midwestern Girl in her.


So here I am, a Semi-Southern girl, trying to find my place, my way, and my life back in the South.