Good luck for you and your family JL. As a military brat, I can empathize with your sitrep. Best of luck, and remember my motto .... Illegitimus non Carborundum (never let the bastards grind you down...)
You may not live in the South but you never leave it, never forget that. Your history, heritage, culture and life seperates you from the people up North. Not saying we are Better, just saying Southeners are very different. Stay true to your southern heritage - Specifically your Louisiana Heritage. I live in Dallas now (Not the North, but not deep south either) I fly my Louisiana colors proudly. You should do the same... Oh,, and bring a Jacket..
Good luck in New Jersey. I've never been there, but one of my co-workers is a native, and she says it gets a bad rap. No doubt, you'll now live around many who were touched directly by 9/11, and that'll take an adjustment, I'm sure. I recently met, through e-mail, a 9/11 widow who read a 9/11 column I wrote for The Dallas Morning News last year. The pain is still quite fresh up there, I assure you. Take an LSU flag and fly it proudly, and thank you for being involved in defending our wonderful country.
After 25 years out here, my sentiment remains unchanged: Southerners are the friendliest people on earth. South Loozianans party like nobody on earth. Which is WHY south Loozianans are the best people on earth. I am STILL both. People out here either love me or hate me for it... C'est la vie..... TexasTig, I beg your pardon, but we are better. We enjoy life more, and love doing that with more people. End of argument.
Funny, but being from New Orleans I've never really thought of myself as a "southerner" in a way. I live in Atlanta now and I can assure you that the "southerners are just not a recptive as Louisianians at all. When I got here it was mostly still southerners living here, now it's mostly northerners, and they just weren't like us. In LA if you go to someone's home they try and feed and you and if you don't say yes to something to drink they will bug you until you finally take something. In Georgia you could be at someone's home for hours without ever getting offered anything. And they just didn't know how to party like we did. It's actually better now with so many northerners with Italian, French, Spanish, etc. heritages being here. The WASPS that use to dominate the area just weren't as hospitable as they think they are.
I lived the first 21 years of my life in BR, and about 4 months in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina...then I moved here in May of '79... Most of the Southerners that I meet out here are much more fun than most folks from other places, including native Calis... But make no mistake about it, South La folks are the best....
Bein' politically correct, eh? OK, I'll let you off the hook this time... They do that PC kind of stuff REAL GOOD out here... ...in fact they do it TO EXCESS... :dis: They can HATE you for your views but you better not hate them for theirs... ...NICE double standard... Which is the way a lot of PCness sets up anyway....
Awesome words.... ..."don't mistake me for a hero".... ...those words alone make you an admirable soldier... ...Good luck, Jean, and God Bless... ...hope to hear from you soon...
