Things about Alabama

Some things I've learned since moving to "The Heart of Dixie", whatever that means:

1. You should expect to have helicopters whizzing what seems right by your head during the day and it doesn't necessarily mean there is a police chase going on.  I'm not talking those cute little police or news helicopters, either.  I'm talking big boys like this...

I guess it's all part of living next to an Army base but it has taken some getting used to.  Back in Jacksonville when I heard a helicopter it was usually connected somehow with a car crash or a runaway prison escapee so I knew to be on the lookout!  But here apparently they use them for training which means to fly them as close to the Burlington Coat Factory parking lot as possible and scare the living daylights outta the Florida girl who just moved here.  The first time one of those big chinook helicopters flew by me I was walking into Target and thought I should run for cover.  I mean the thing was like 50 feet up in the air and not a soul was bothered by it.  Except for me, haha.  I still get a little nervous and think we're about to be bombed several times a day when they fly by the house. 

2.  Even though we live further north geographically, when we moved 500 miles north we were actually headed further south.  The people that live here seem to all run on country music (not that I'm complaining), fried pickles (again, no objections), Coke products (I'm thinking I'll like this place!), homecooked BBQ, and big trucks, blue jeans, and a slow southern drawwwwwwwl.  The Sonic here has fried pickles.  Not. Kidding.  Why doesn't Florida think that's a good idea?!

3.  The people here like the talk.  You can find out anyone's life story after you've known them for five minutes, or not at all!  Take the lady behind the counter at the DMV's office for example.  She offered up some marital advice for Baron and I and then told us she was married at 14, then divorced at 45 because he beat her "all those years" and she even had to go to "one of those shelters".  Don't get me wrong, I would've been a shoulder for her to cry on, but there were 5 people in line behind us.  I wonder what stories they got?   Everyone here, the grocery cashier, the post office clerk, the mailman, the apartment manager, the person next to you at Kroger selecting chicken breasts, they all have something to say to you.  Not that I'm complaining about it, heaven knows I have the gift of gab, but sometimes their approach is just way off.

4.  Did you know there was a law passed in 1951 that says that on every license plate in the state there must be a small heart with the words "The Heart of Dixie" on it.  Yep...true story.

5.  Besides another couple that I know from Florida who moved here about three years ago, every. single. person. that finds out that we're new to the area says "Oh.  There's nothing to do here. It's boring."  Hmmm...I wonder if I should let these people who've lived in Alabama their whole lives in on a secret...this town is the same as every other town I've ever lived in.  If that's your outlook on life then they're all going to be boring.  Life's what you make of it.  It's who you spend your time with, or who you call because you're too far away to spend time with.  It the people you're thankful for and the people that you miss more than you ever thought you would.  Life is sitting on the couch with your husband and two puppies watching a movie in total darkness, with a crazy thunderstorm going on outside.  It's coffee and a sleepy conversation early in the morning while he's getting ready for work.  It's dinner made with love and burnt rice.  It's a trip to Target while you're holding hands.  It's a kiss good morning and goodnight.