What’s Better Down Here
Road surfaces. No snow means no snowplows and rare potholes. If a road develops even a hairline crack the DOT gets out there and resurfaces.
Bridges and cars. No ice on the roads means no salt on the roads, therefore no rust on the bridges or on our cars.
Clothes. Down here it’s not only acceptable but expected that you dress to impress in colorful, creative fashions. No style is too eccentric and no color is too bright. Up north people dress to keep warm, and brown and beige dominate the wardrobes.
Flipflops. Flipflops are classified as real shoes here, come in casual to dressy and everything in between, are sold in high-end shoe stores and are priced accordingly. Up north flipflops are those three-dollar rubber things you buy at the drug store and wear twice a year to the city pool.
Bathing suits. A pool in every neighborhood necessitates acquiring a wardrobe of bathing suits and stores here are stocked to the brim with exciting suits in every shape and size. Up north you own one suit in a dark, slimming color (it was the only one you could find that didn’t make you look like an inflated innertube.)
Beans. I haven’t met a bean I don’t love since I’ve been down here. Limas, black-eyed peas, butter beans — they’re all fantastic.
Grits. Yes, you heard me right. They add cheese and garlic and shrimp to them, and they know how to cook them creamy and dreamy.
Vegetable side dishes. They’re like mini-meals. Squash casserole and cheesy broccoli-rice are two of my favorites.
Mexican food. No Chi-Chi’s down here. We have a plethora of authentic Mexican restaurants to choose from (staffed by authentic Mexicans, so you can also practice your high school Spanish.)
Spring. Daffodils bloom in mid-February, every yard has at least one flowering tree, you can hide Easter eggs outside and you never have to wear a parka over your sleeveless pastel dress.
Chattahoochee River, aka "The Hooch"
