My trip to the Smokey Mountains was awesome (do people still use that word?) and very enlightening. I've always heard the term southern hospitality and I've always known that the north and south were different, but this trip really opened my eyes.
From the moment that we arrived, you could just tell things were different, it was just a feeling that is almost indescribable. Our first stop was at the Cabin rental building where we were greeted with genuine cheerfulness. Notice that I used the word genuine, like it's somehow born and bred into them at a young age. Anyway, we got directions and were on our way. The climb up the mountain to our cabin would make even the calmest person a wreck. Mountain cliffs on both sides. Have they never heard of a side rail before? Suffice it to say that we went very slowly and since I am back home to write this, we did it quite successfully.
We did a lot of sightseeing through the mountains, hit the aquarium, raced on the go karts, but what I want to focus on right now are the shows that we saw. First was the Comedy Barn. It was hysterical, and could even keep the staunchest, Bah Humbug, grouch in stitches.
I've enclosed a video below, and although it wasn't the one we attended it made us laugh so hard that we had to purchase it. If you somehow make it threw the video without getting downright hysterical, then there is just something seriously wrong with you.
**I should warn you, put down all drinks, and make sure you have gone to the bathroom before you attempt to watch this.
Now that you have been entertained, I will actually get to the point of my post. One thing very unique about the Comedy Barn is that is was wholesome family comedy. You didn't have to worry about the F-bomb getting thrown all over the place nor did you have to explain to your kids that a blow-job is actually when people get a job at a car wash and they blow the cars dry at the end of it. (You think I am kidding?) They somehow were able to make everyone of us, from three different generations laugh our butts off, and at the same time pride themselves on their family styled comedy. Half way through the show, they honored the veterans for their service and had them stand up to be recognized. What a sense of pride and thankfulness I felt at that moment. It hit me somewhere throughout the show that this NEVER would have worked in New Jersey. Besides the fact that they had cloggers and sung about a "Tender Tennessee Christmas" the reaction of the people back home would not have been the same. Northerners would have thought it hokey and probably made fun of everything they were doing. You might be asking yourself well, you are a northerner, so why didn't you? Even if you weren't particularly asking yourself that, I will tell you anyway. My family is southerners in disguise. We are so out of place up here in liberal valley it's like the show, The Beverly Hillbillies. So when we have a chance to visit the south, it is almost like coming home.
The next show we attended was The Black Bear Jamboree. A magical night, but another example of how very different the north and south are. People were polite and pleasant, not the usual...."Follow me" you get, like this is the last place they want to be, when we were getting seated. The show was full of singing, dancing and dare I say it...... GOSPEL. They actually celebrated the real reason for the season. They sung about the birth of Christ and it was a very poignant reminder to everyone there that Christmas had nothing to do with lights, tinsel, gifts and stockings and everything to do with Jesus' birth.
There wasn't one thing in particular that made me realize how very different it was between the north and south. It was as if we were visiting a totally different country. Southern hospitality is a living, breathing thing and this experience really restored my hope in America. I realized that the values and beliefs that are non-existent up here are bountiful down there and it just confirmed how much harder I needed to work with my kids, on instilling those same values. It's a difficult task I have ahead of me, when so many of their friends, are very different than what I expect of Anthony and Nicholas.
Being from the north doesn't make you a bad person, just as being from the south doesn't make you a good one, but there was just a fundamental attitude that was very different between the two places. The atmosphere here in Jersey, is stifling, it is crowded and people are just not friendly. They seem to have the "What can you do for me attitude", where as in the south, it felt more like "What can I do for you?" The atmosphere down in Tennessee was just genuine and welcoming and the people actually were polite and used phrases like "thank you" or "yes ma'am." Sometimes I feel downright lost up here. The people, the places, the values, and the atmosphere are so completely different. God seems to be welcomed down there, wherever you are, while here, He is only allowed certain places. Sometimes southerners get a bad reputation but I truly think that we would all be a lot more content if we took some lessons from them. Especially that southern drawl......that was music to my ears!
The mountains all around, reminded us every day of the beauty God has bestowed upon us. You could see HIs beauty in the clouds that floated over the mountaintop and the trickling streams running throughout the mountains. There was a sense of peace there that I have never found anywhere else. The air was fresh and clean and it was a wonder how the simple act of breathing felt so good. As I sit here in yankee-land, I am thankful for the memories that I will always hold with me and I hope those that are able to experience that beauty and magnificence every day, appreciate what they have been so blessed with.
Cross posted at Palace For A Princess
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