roots

"If life stayed the way it was,
and lovers never fell out of love,
if memories didn't last so long,
and nobody did nobody wrong,
if we knew what we had before it was gone,
if every road led back home,
this would be the very last country song."
-Sugarland

"I'm gonna live where the green grass grows,
watch my corn pop up in rows,
every night be tucked in close to you,
raise our kids where the good Lord's blessed,
point our rocking chairs towards the west,
plant our dreams where the peaceful river flows...
oh, where the green grass grows."
-Tim McGraw

"Back where I come from,
it's where I'll be when it's said and done,
Well, I'm proud as anyone,
That's where I come from."
-Kenny Chesney

"Growing up Southern is a privilege, really. It's more than where you're born, it's an idea and state of mind that seems imparted at birth. It's more than loving fried chicken, sweet tea, college football, beer, and country music. It's being hospitable, charming, and respectful while having strength, grace, and a genuine love for our family and our land. We don't become Southern, we're born that way."

"Being country isn't all about the accent, pig pickin's, or music, Katy. Being country is an attitude; it's the mindset. It's simple. It's about being honest and sincere. It's about giving people the benefit of the doubt no matter what." -Dad

It's June 11th, 2010, and it's hot outside. The kind of hot that makes you thirst for an ice cold coke and a dip in the pool. The sun isn't just shining- it's blaring like Jason Aldean is through that Silverado's speakers. I have my bare feet up on the dashboard, my cut off jean shorts on, and shades to relieve squinting. As we cruise down the highway with the windows down, I master the fine art of eating a mouthful of sunflower seeds at one time in my left cheek and spitting the shells from the other. Look Ma, no hands! My very best friend, Breanne, who is surely falling in love with the power of driving a pickup truck turns to me and laughs out loud. We spent about an hour loading her life into the back where it was now Northbound to Raleigh. And then it hits me. Maybe it's the wind that smells so sweetly of grilling out, heat, and grass that's blowing in my face, playing with my hair, or maybe it's the urge I have to turn the music up a little louder upon the first sound of, "she had a shiney little beamer with the ragtop down..." Whatever it is, for the first time in my 20 years of being raised in Sanford, NC, I understand exactly what it means to have roots.

The thing about home is, no matter how far you go or how much you think you change because of the people you meet and the things you learn elsewhere, nothing is ever as true and close to your heart as where and how you've been raised. That's roots. You can't escape them and you can't deny them. You always find yourself back where you started eventually. And if you're lucky, they'll creep up on you when you least expect them to...a friendly reminder that the rest of the world can play you for a fool if it wants to, but it can't touch how you were brought up: the importance of Sunday morning church and Mama's cookin' after, the excitement of running around barefoot down in the woods trying to keep up with your older brother and eating strawberries at the patch until your shirt was stained red when you were only supposed to be picking.. more family vacations spent in a pop up camper in the mountains than you can count, lessons learned from grandparents' stories while helping to hang out laundry and shuck corn, having parents that give everything of themselves to see you do well but always straighten you out when you need it, and being able to respect anyone and everyone you meet just because you ought to...because that's what your closest friends do, what your parents do, what your grandparents do, and what your great grandparents and Jesus did.
Roots. Southern. Country. Simple. Honest. Sincere. True. Holding in my heart, sneaking out in my accent, and I hope to God showing in all my actions.

We get to the new apartment and lug furniture, clothes, and pictures of good memories inside. Sweat drips down our backs, but we keep going until the job's done. Tim McGraw's greatest hits play from the truck outside as we look around her new room. Sunflower seeds are still stashed in my left cheek. Life might be different living in apartment style, this year might bring change; a new roommate, a new boy, old promises rediscovered, new regrets, old success found in new classes, old skills practiced in a new atmosphere- on a new level, old ways merging with new paths, old and new mistakes met by an even newer grace...

Thank God for roots.