Mississippi Mama

Mama Dawg was one of my first blog friends. It was back in the beginning where I spent most of my blog time meandering and looking around - checking out blog rolls and never remembering how I got where. Mama had posted a video of her enchanting daughter Light of My Life (LOML). It was their accents and the sweetness of their voices that hooked me. And they were having so much fun together this mother and daughter. I was thrilled when she agreed to take us to Mississippi for Travel Thursday.

Most of y’all don’t know me, but I’m Mama Dawg from over at Two Dogs Running.

When Pseudo asked me to guest post, I was flabbergasted. I mean, she’s an incredible writer and I’m, well…….I’m one of those people that writes the way I talk. Just imagine reading this with a slight Mississippi accent. So, it’s a honor to guest blog over here in sunny, gorgeous, exotic Hawaii. Thanks again Pseudo for this chance.

When I asked what she wanted me to write about, she offered up two choices. Disney or Mississippi.

I was soooooooo tempted to go with the obvious and talk about Disney World. However, I chose to go the other route and give y’all a little taste of my home state.

I grew up in south Jackson and moved away when I was 11. I just moved back a couple of years ago when I was 30. I had lived in Florida and New Orleans prior to moving back.

Having lived in the suburbs all my life, I decided to switch things up and move out to a very tiny town in northeast Mississippi. We have family here, so it’s not like I was moving to a strange place.

However, it was a drastic change. A positive change, but drastic nevertheless.

My daughter was 7 when we moved here. She is truly an amazing kid and adapted quickly to the changes in her life. She’s actually thriving on the small town sense of community. We can never go ANYWHERE without someone stopping and saying hello to her.

I had reservations moving back to Mississippi knowing all of its history. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to raise my daughter in one of the poorest states or one that still has a lingering air of racism connected to it. It was a tough choice, but the positives ended up outweighing the negatives.

I mean, we live in a tiny town where people are named Epsya, Spooky and Birdie.

We live in a place where we can fish at our own creek.

We live in a place where we drag race our dogs.

We live in a place where I can cut sunflowers AND blackberries during the summer.

We live in a place where we have plums that grow on trees right outside of our windows.

We live in a place where it’s normal to have a squirrel as a pet.

We live in a place where you can take all your baby doll furniture outside and play house with your best friend in the front yard. You can even leave all the stuff out overnight and it will still be there the next day!

We live in a place where you can be the queen of the hay bales.

We live in a place where we get just enough snow to make it magical and not a headache.

We live in a place where you can climb really old magnolia trees just for the heck of it.

We live in a place where dogs at a pond make us laugh like fools.



We live in a place where you can live and laugh and love.

It may not be exotic Hawaii, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

Later,

Mama Dawg