Growing up in the south

[DanielleNguyen]

I really miss the south, TN is where I grew up. The biggest influence on my life was my grandpa. We lived in a old house together. It had a tin roof and when it would rain it was the most beautiful sound I ever heard. I would sit with my momma on the porch and listen to it come down. It was her favorite thing. My momma was single, so my grandpa I really looked up to like a daddy. We lived on a small farm. We had some chickens, a really mean goat, and of course some dogs. We grew our own food out side in papaw's fields. We grew corn, tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, watermelon, and we even had a strawberry patch. Though picking the strawberries was really hard. I ate most of them anyway. Little girls tend to do that. We also had a coal shed and I would help my papaw carry the coal inside to the wood and coal burner. He'd let me sit in his lap and we'd watch Hang him High and Andy Griffith on the t.v. as he let me eat a brown cow ice cream. It was a reward for a hard day's work. When momma remarried, we got a new house, but every night I would walk to my papaws and he'd be shining a flashlight waiting outside for me. Early morning I would get up and walk to school. Papaw taught me many things, he'd take me in the woods to hunt for ginseng. I would climb trees and of course get poison ivy like always, but what do you expect when you go play in the woods. Papaw has been gone for 14 years now. His house still has everything in it, the pictures, his chair where I would climb into his lap. The roof is sinking in, cobwebs, mold, but his clothes still hang in the closet. Just a abandoned house of memories I guess you could say. But on days I would miss him or on days it would rain I would go sit on that porch and talk to him while listening to the rain. If I go back home I hope to take my kids on the porch and let them hear the rain on the tin. It's a beautiful sound you never forget. If you wonder what the reason is to this post, well there is none. Just a pregnant woman missing home and decided to write about it.

[S_Parc]

So are you telling me that you're Melissa Gilbert from 'Little House on the Prairie'?

[DanielleNguyen]

no I am not meliisa glibert. My grandpa's house was built around 1920. He just left it as is. I mean we had a sink and stove and everything but some things he just left old.

[S_Parc]

no I am not meliisa glibert. My grandpa's house was built around 1920. He just left it as is. I mean we had a sink and stove and everything but some things he just left old.

Considering that "Melissa", is my lesbian girlfriend, I'm glad that there aren't two of you on this forum

[Tsar]

Tennessee is one of the southern states that would be one of the ones I would choose to live, after Florida and maybe tied with Texas. I would like to have a nice garden. There wouldn't be as many mosquito as in Florida but there would be colder winters.

[DanielleNguyen]

Snow Is beautiful on the mountain tops of the south.

[abcdavid01]

Yeah, I just came back from college in TN. Chattanooga's my favorite American city.

[DanielleNguyen]

You should visit pigeon Forge. Lots of attractions and walking the mountains is fun

[abcdavid01]

I went to Pigeon Forge over spring break. It's a bit tacky, but still fun. Gatlinburg is good too. Ultimately though, those seem like vacation towns. Chatt's more of a place to live. Rock City will always hold a place in my heart.

In Gatlinburg, I'd tell anyone who goes to stop by the Cabin Cafe. The owner's an extremely nice guy. It's located in the city's art community and his food is his art. When he's not sleeping he's running the cafe all on his own. Excellent food too and he's always experimenting with new recipes. Name's Dwayne I think. The motto is "Enter as Strangers, Leave as Friends" and it was true because he talked to me the whole time. Felt very much like home.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/IB3QwAxCgpM[/youtube]

http://visitthecabin.com/

[DanielleNguyen]

Hmmm I'll keep that in mind.