I normally don't write blogs like this, and I don't think it will be very long but it's from a very sweet place in my heart and I wanted to share.
As I sit here writing this, I can smell Mr. Clean deodorizing the floor with his Apple Scented Floor Cleaner. My hands are a little dry from cleaning dishes and rinsing out mop buckets. My skin smells slightly of bleach and everything is spic and span from the shower floors to the hose being wrapped up outside.
All for the company. The last thing I had to do was make a pot of fresh sweet tea.
My mom always taught me, whether she knew it or not to have a fresh pot of sweet tea when company is coming. When I was stirring the tea, I looked in the oven and saw my reflection: high waisted jeans, t-shirt, Rosie the Riveter headband (I always love to clean with it on), I not only felt like such a...woman, but I thought of a concept or rather a stereotype I'm proud to hold.
Southern Hospitality.
I don't know how many people still practice this, but southerners ARE generally warmer. I think it comes out of loving your home and your land so much that when you entertain those you love you want them to feel as comfortable as you do when you're in the home you love. If I had to describe the feeling, it would just be... warm. When I am cooking and cleaning for those who I love all I can do is sigh a contented sigh because hospitality is a form of love. You're offering your home to them, caring for them, and for just a little bit, showing them a different form of love.
So today, after cleaning, I wasn't obstinate or lazy about it, I was just practicing some good ol' southern hospitality.
I love the South ya'll. I would not change being from Texas for a second. I relish every "Bless Your Heart!" and "How Ya Doin Sugar?!" I hear. I love Sweet Tea and Fried Green Tomatas'! I'm obsessed with Gone With the Wind, and one day I'll own a sugar plantation in the south and sit on my front porch everyday looking out on the long driveway of Oaks and Spanish Moss. I love the South, everything about it!
But what I especially love, is the Southerner's hospitality. It's a concept I was raised to follow and I'm proud to upkeep it.
I think I'm going to go make some collard greens now or something.
Anyways, I just wanted to share!
Bless Your Hearts Ya'll!
Love, Your Southerner/Texan, Shelby
