Oh that sentence could kill, couldn’t it? Haha.
I’ve been officially living in the south for exactly a year 2 months and 2 days. Most people don’t count down to the day like that, but I do. Why? Maybe because as a Yankee I don’t fit very well into Southern culture. There. Whew. I admitted it. Now where’s my cookie?
It’s been a very long, tumultuous and emotionally draining year, 2 months and 2 days, to say the least. Probably the longest year, 2 months and 2 days of my life.
It all starts in the fall of 2008. The Big Mans (my significant other) had been offered a job in South Carolina. We visited on a bright and sunny weekend in August. And yes, we fell in love with the place. It was quaint, quietly hip and the weather was great. You couldn’t really complain. I then made a decision to give up my job in Buffalo (my hometown and love of my life) to follow the man of my dreams to follow his dream. Life was great, I was starting a brand new chapter, and in December of 2008, he popped the question. I said yes and also graduated with my Master’s degree in the field I loved. No one could stop me, I was a girl on a mission. That mission was to snag a great agency or other marketing job in a new city with so much promise.
::Cough:: ::Cough:: And here we are. One year, 2 months and 2 days later.
Still unemployed…still a Yankee…and a little less optimistic.
Yay! I admitted it finally…I am NOT optimistic. But I’m the least miserable with the Big Mans, though. (More about him later) He’s the greatest and also not exactly happy here either. But we’re making do. We tried the south. We did. We gave it the good ol’ college try. Maybe it’s not for us. Maybe we need more time. But we’re New Yorkers, there is no time…right!?!??!
I know at times my Yankee-ness has gotten the best of me and ruffled a few feathers. Fact is, I’m passionate about who I am and what I do. People often find that intimidating. Wherever you are. My issues with the south are not that things move a bit slower, because honestly I don’t feel as though they do. But being labeled as a “Yankee” has not exactly been positive. Why do folks care? Yes I’m from the north…get over it!
I don’t know if I remember pegging “Southern” people out of a group growing up and living in Buffalo. Then again. It’s Buffalo. You think snow, you think cold. It’s understandable anyone not from there would ever live there. (But I think it’s the best place on earth…and in the future I hope to prove that to many people) Point is, why is it such a bad thing to be a Yankee? And what am I doing wrong exactly to stand out negatively? Honestly…I can’t figure it out. But maybe that’s because I’m a Yankee.
So how many out there are Yankees living in the south? How has your experience been so far? Do you have any advice for this spunky twenty-something Yankee WAY out of her comfort zone?
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