I am originally from Minnesota, though I have lived in North
Carolina for over thirty years. I do still have many of my Midwestern
giveaways. The most obvious one is that I still don’t say y’all. I don’t eat
greens. I enjoy a cold, brisk day.
When folks notice these things, I offer this simple
explanation: I’m not from around here. Of course, sometimes they point it out
first.
So when I went back to Minnesota to visit my grandparents, I
saw it as a trip back to where I belong. I couldn’t wait to take a walk around
the lake and feel the prairie wind on my face. And I couldn’t wait to enjoy the
feeling of being among my own people, people who “get” me, people who know that
I belong here.
And that is exactly how I felt while in my grandparents’
home. When we shared meals, watched a Twins game, played hearts. But when we
ventured out, I realized how foreign this lovely place had become. The names of
places tasted funny in my mouth: Osseo, Lake Miniwawa, Hennepin Avenue. The
pace felt different. And, as if for the first time, I really heard that Midwestern accent. It was as if the entire cast
of A Prairie Home Companion were following me around. I was loving every minute
of it, and still not realizing what it meant for me.
Then one morning we had breakfast at a nearby diner. A very
efficient waitress came to take our orders, first my grandparents and then me.
I requested two eggs over medium, bacon, wheat toast and coffee. She scribbled
it all down and, without looking up from her order pad, asked “So … what part
of the South are ya from, there?” I was too stunned to answer, beyond a
surprised chuckle. Why would she ask that? It’s not as if I had ordered grits,
which she couldn’t have served to me anyway. She looked up and waited for my
reply. Then I straightened up and proudly declared, “North Carolina.” As soon as she walked away, I
grabbed my cell phone and called my sweet Southern father-in-law to tell him
what just happened, while my grandpa chuckled in the background.
Well. My transition is apparently complete. I am proud to
say I am from North Carolina, the Great North State. And now I love to repeat
something I saw on a bumper sticker once: I was not born in the South, but I
got here as fast as I could.
