Country Girl in the Suburbs

I have come to realize in the past 10 years or so that I am really a country girl at heart, at least half my heart anyway. Yes, I happen to have grown up in the suburbs, lived a surburban lifestyle, bought a house and work in the suburbs, but I really have a lot of country girl in me. I mean, I went to the University of Alabama for goodness sakes! Can I get a big Roll Tide!?

As much as I like to keep my professional decorum at work, and often in life in general, I have a bit of a redneck at my core. I know most wouldn't look at me and really believe me when I tell them about that side of me. I try to hang with the "city" crowd, but I just can't get into all of the boutiques and froo froo restaurants. I can go and put on the appearance that I belong to this crowd, but it's not a comfort level that I have, at all. I know my manners, how to dress, which fork to use, and how much to tip the valet, but I'd much rather have a good steak and bleu cheese on my salad rather than ostrich medallions and house viniagrette. I'd much rather hang out at a country bar, or even a hole in the wall blue jean bar with a beer and listening to country or blue grass or southern rock, then get all dressed to impress to go to a midtown or buckhead establishment with a cosmopolitan martini listening to techno. Afterall, you can't sing karaoke to techo - we all know country songs are best suited for that! I think I'd like to date a country song songwriter. Aren't those just some of the sweetest and sometimes most romantic songs? And isn't there just something about a good-lookin' guy in a cowboy hat? A sweet Southern drawl? Good, respectful manners? God-fearing, God-loving? Mmmhmmm.

I don't let the country girl out very often but when I listen to the country music station, she's there. Singing along to all the songs, even trying to get the distinct southern accent of the singer right, just wishing that's where I belonged. But the truth is, I don't fully belong in the country world either. As much as I like my blue jeans, they couldn't be my main article of clothing. I'll go fishing and enjoy it, but don't want to put the worm on the hook or take the fish off the line. I love deer, but don't want one hanging in my den. I guess I'm just somewhere in the middle. A product of a country boy from small town Jacksonville, Alabama and a city girl from big town Atlanta, Georgia. But can I get a Yee Haw, anyway!?