As Fast as I Could

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.