Starbucks, Shoes and Southern Spirit

Yesterday was a beautiful day in the southern city of Albany, Georgia! My morning started off with a much needed coffee date at Starbucks! Susie and I met for some girl time and ended up spending almost 4 hours catching up on the past....hmmm, how many years??? I don't even want to count because it makes me feel old. Needless to say there was a lot to talk about and I enjoyed every.single.minute of it. Luckily for me (and hopefully her) we live about 10 minutes from one another and our little ones attend school within 5 minutes from Starbucks so it works out great! I can't tell you how uplifted and renewed I felt there yesterday; Susie is just a joy to be around and she makes you "excited" about life. It was like going to therapy and my soul has really needed it. It was so refreshing and it's like we picked up where we left off years ago. I think a lot of that has to do with Facebook (best thing ever) because we reconnected there first and by the grace of God, now in person here in Albany! Our kids love one another and our husbands could seriously have been best friends in another life...and then you have me and Susie who also share a lot of the same interests, values, expectations ---I could go on but you get the point. We click. 

While having our coffee date we also enjoyed people watching as all Southern females do. Now, you have to consider the town and the type of people that live here to truly comprehend what I am about to say. First and foremost, I am not condemning the girl for her sense of style because we all have one and we all deserve to have our own unique sense of fashion so don't go bashing my blog because of the next few lines.....Here goes.


Susie and I were talking a mile a minute and then to my dismay all I see is a pair of "KISS" type boots walking my way and I was speechless. I can't even really tell you what the girl looked like or what she was wearing other than skinny jeans because I couldn't get past the shoes/boots she had one. First, I was trying to figure out how in the hell she was able to walk in them and how they could be remotely comfortable. Secondly, I was wondering if I had entered the twilight zone because that is not what you normally see here in Albany. Our new city is a very reserved and laid back one where people are up on the latest trends of fashion; wearing designer or vintage labels, polos, khaki's, sundresses, large sunglasses, designer handbags and cute chic shoes. They would never dare to push the envelope as this young woman did because of the gasps and stares that would ensue (like Susie and I did -- wrong or right). She was also pushing extremely hard to wear that into the "coveted" Starbucks in our small town.  Our Starbucks is usually packed in the mornings and she didn't walk through the doors until almost noon so it wasn't very busy; had it been in the morning you probably could have heard a pin drop. I give her major points for having the nerve to walk into a place like that because she owned who she was and her unique sense of style -- I could have never done it. 


I know that paragraph above makes this area sound like a very fake and mean place to live but it's not. It has charm and everyone is very polite and will talk to you even if they don't know you. They open doors for you, carry bags for you and they still have grocery guys here that take the stuff to your cars. You are always greeted with "Yes, Ma'am" or told "No, Sir". If your children do not address others that way then you aren't considered raising your children right. It's a staple in this community and frowned upon if it's not done. The ladies here have a ton of class and there is a lot of "old money" so they have a lot of the luxurious and finer things in life but you wouldn't know it because they are genuine people. "Albanyians" are very down to earth and I would say many of them are very sincere when speaking to you even if they had just met you. They really care about what you think and want you to love their community as much as they do. The men are a "bunch of good 'ole boys" and the woman embrace their southern heritage and bring you housewarming gifts/home cooked meals when you move here (Sorry, Susie, I am still bringing you dinner one night-things got crazy!). 

I can really only sum Albany up as "Steel Magnolias", "Andy Griffith" and "Forrest Gump" all rolled into one. If small town living isn't something you love then you would be miserable here because we are about as small town as it gets. But I <heart> Albany and love calling it home.