Random Grooves (caught and typed)

Salted peanuts and a Southern reunion - 07 February 2003 . 07:29

I was sitting at work this morning, eatin' some salted peanuts a driver brought in for me, when in walked another driver. He's an older guy, well about 50, and always very polite or whatnot when I talk to him. Today he decided to talk about some random stuff while his trailer was being loaded.

So he's telling me this story about when his son was a wee lad, and he sorta described the house where his family used to live. So when he was done I said, in my southern/country accent, "Yeah I know where you're talkin' about. That's up on 'mill hill' ain't it?" Why yes, he assured me, it most certainly was.

Anyhow, we got to talking and it turns out he lived in my hometown for purd'near 15 years. We were talking about how much things had changed, what happened to so and so, what this building used to be and all that. And then, as we're shellin' and eatin' peanuts during conversational lull, he looks over at me and asks....

"So, who're yer people?"

Anyone from the South knows this is a staple question in the first conversation of new acquaintences. Since kinfolk and what stock you come from are big determinations of character here in the South, the question of who your "people" are is guaranteed when talking to someone you just met.

So I start reciting my family tree and I no more than said 3 names before he said, "Yeah, I know him. How're you related to him again?"

Turns out he worked at the mill with my paternal grandfather's brother. And his "daddy" was a farmer which put him in league with my great grandfather on my dad's side (the great grandfather that died about 6 months after I was born).

Now, even though I live in a small, close-knit town that lies in a small, close-knit county in a close-knit portion of the state, I was surprised to run across someone who knew so many of my family members. After living in the North for the past 5 years, I suppose I had forgotten how truly common it is to meet up with somebody that knows some of the same somebodies that you know....hehe.

I reveled for a moment at how small the world really is and how on some level a "reunion" of this sort is a bit magical.

Then I realized it's just because no one 'round these parts believes in tendin' to their own rather than everyone else's.

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Random Grooves (caught and typed)

Random Grooves (caught and typed)

Love - 21 December 2004 . 04:41

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