I hope you saw the invite that all the bloggers in the Southern Blogs ring shared. "Southern Blogs Ring, the premier source on Southern culture, manner, missive and nostalgia will be holding a group blog to celebrate being alive, southern and free all at the same time." You may be asking yourself what the topic of discussion will be so here it is. The topic for the day is why I consider myself Southern.

I've talked about the Southern Blogs ring before and how being southern is for all those bloggers who take pride in the rich heritage of their southernness: the south side, south of France, south of the border, southpaws, South Bend, or just plain south of center. I fit in by being a southpaw and pretty south of center but that's a whole 'nother post. So I started thinking about what my contribution to the group post would be and here's what I came up with - it's definitely in the genes. My dad is originally from Virginia, my mom is from Louisiana, I was born and raised in Maryland and now live happily in Florida. Virginia and Maryland may not seem real south to true southerners but my mother's heritage from Louisiana gives me the gold key to the southern door.

Here's the story about my mom - her dad worked on a plantation and, sad to say, he was a slave master. It was that time in the country and there's nothing that can be changed about it, so there it is. My mother and her siblings were actually born on plantations such as Evergreen and, I believe, Houmas House or it may have been Oak Alley. Nonetheless, that's a pretty cool heritage to have, minus the slave stuff of course, and my mother has lots of stories to share. She is quite the southern belle even to this day and that, my friends, is a whole 'nother blog or five. Anyway, I come by southernness honestly. All my remaining relatives in Louisiana have that lush Louisiana speak - better than Dennis Quaid in the Big Easy - and to this day I get a chill every time I speak to or hear someone with that Luziana accent. Whoo Cher.

So I'm southern. My sister, Dee, is so southern she can conjure up a gris-gris and make it stick! I'm thinkin' that's a whole other blog story that I'll share some day. In the meantime, I'm southern, I feel southern and that's the end of the story for now. Oh, and for good measure I really am a southpaw. If you are southern, feel southern or have any inkling of southern in your genes join the ring. You'll be glad you did. Happy Gardening.