When Southern Mama Memories Meet Boot Camp

Hello folks, let’s chat…I met the mother daughter duo during an author event in South Louisiana. The mother arrived holding a worn copy of Suck Your Stomach In and Put Some Color On that she was hoping I might personalize. Granted, I’m happy to do that anytime, but y’all, that mother had toted my book all the way from California! No, not for my signing, silly. Her husband was retired military and the family had recently relocated to the area. While I found my new friends to be pleasant conversationalists, they admitted to having trouble adjusting to small town life.

The mother was openly frustrated with the constant inquiries into their family history. Although she’d held a number of government positions in which she’d been vetted and revetted, she suggested that the CIA couldn’t hold a candle to the local PTA when it came to learning “who their people were”.

You know I couldn’t stand it, right? I told her me and mine did that too, but we did it as a way to make connections with newcomers rather than to exclude them. Jan clearly wasn’t sold on my explanation but she seemed willing to pass and repass on it. I was glad, too, because it turned out she wasn’t hating on all our southern ways, she was just stating the facts of her new hometown as a newbie saw them. Surprise, surprise, Jan herself was southern born and bred. A Tennessee belle, if I remember correctly. What’s more, she credited the upbringing from her Southern Mama to helping her get through boot camp all those years ago.

Many times an officer would ask the same question, back to back. Buffaloed, the other recruits would answer louder or more forcibly. Not Jan. She’d learned early that if her mother repeated a question, it meant her first answer wasn’t cutting it and Jan had best find a new one. That single skill made Jan the only recruit in her unit who never had to do additional pushups for discipline.

If anyone’s keeping score, and I am, that’s another one for the Southern Mama. Well played, sister, well played.

Hugs,
Shellie