Our tea is sweet, words are long, days are warm, and faith is strong.

Anyone who has met me knows that I am about as southern as southern can sound. My accent is as thick as molasses. I love all things country music, shooting guns, and riding dirt roads. But being southern is more than an accent and extracurricular activities. It's more than wearing plaid, loving cotton, listening to country music, or even dating a farmer. Being southern is knowing the traditions of your ancestors. It's tracing your family tree and knowing that your great-great-great grandfather served in the Civil War. It's having the family secret recipes and knowing it's the most important possession you can hold. It's honoring those that came and paved the way before us. Those that settled in the southern states and made this a country built on agriculture. Southern is knowing your manners and minding them. Southern is "yes ma'am" and "no sir." It's "God Bless" and "Bless your heart." It's sitting on the front porch or playing in the yard on a Sunday after church. It's knowing that getting stuck behind a tractor can be a life lesson to slow down and pay more attention to your surroundings. Southern is being a God fearing man and a hard working woman. It's more than stereotypes and societies ideas.

Being southern isn't about owning all the shirts in the world that proclaim the joys of the south (mason jars, cotton, SEC football, hunting. etc.) or having a Yeti covered in stickers. It isn't even going hunting or enjoying sitting on the bed of a truck just looking at the stars. Being southern is a way of life, something you are born into. It cannot be bought or earned. Being southern is an honor and the highest compliment you can pay me.