Southern Hospitality

According to Wikipedia, Southern Hospitality is a phrase used to stereotype residents of the Southern United States as particularly warm, sweet and welcoming to visitors to their home, or the South in general.

 Fortunately, I’ve been immersed in it my entire life and find it to be a way of life. 

Recently my daughter and I were traveling down memory lane looking at photos from my childhood. There was one particular photo of me at my third birthday party that caught our attention. The party was hosted by my Grandmother, and like any true Southern lady would do, she pulled out her finest.

My Birthday cake was on a silver tray and my Grandmother’s finest silver candle holders were on the table, as well as a crisp white tablecloth. I was three! I couldn’t appreciate it then, but she, like so many other southern ladies and gents do so well, brought out her best for this special occasion.

I guess this is where my appreciation for this lifestyle started.  During my early adult years, I really started to take notice of it happening all around me.  I savored it. If I picked up on someone doing it right, mental notes to self were taken.

There have been beautiful ladies along the way that taught me by the example they set.  I find myself thinking of them anytime we are hosting others in our home.

One of my favorite memories was when I was hosting a surprise all ladies birthday luncheon and one of these lovely ladies came by a little early, no doubt to inspect. I was new at this and she knew it and didn’t want me to fail.

Before I could blink, Mrs. Ruth had taken my centerpiece of flowers, that had come straight from our local florist, off of the table and rearranged it. According to her they looked like funeral flowers!

Sweet Mrs. Ruth made it very clear that a flower arrangement should never look stiff like funeral flowers, but instead it should look “airy, like a bird could fly through it.” I’ve never forgotten that lesson.

Recently, we traveled across three states in five days for Telescope Casual Furniture’s annual “Show on the Go”. Upon arriving back home and 1,400 miles later, I realized my ankles were swollen from all of the riding. 

If the word “cankles” had a picture beside it in the dictionary, my ankles after that trip were sure to be there!

On this particular outing we had a real dose of Southern Hospitality, not once but twice.  Just the summer before I’d heard about how one of the dealers had a spread of food and mimosas waiting on Tim and the sales managers traveling with him when they arrived at their store. I knew it was out there but had no idea, when we set out on our journey, we would encounter it along the way. 

Watching my hard-working husband load and unload all of those sample chairs and tables in and out of the hot vehicle was wearing on me a bit.  It was day two. Maybe it was sympathy pains on my part?

Call it what you want, but before you judge me too harshly you should know I married a true gentleman. I wasn’t helping him with all of that loading and unloading, despite my best efforts, because he wouldn’t let me!

Tim’s Momma was deceased when we met, but if I had the chance, I would tell her she raised two fine men in Tim and his brother, Tom.  They were raised in Michigan, and if you didn’t know any better, you’d think they came straight out of the south with their genuine charm and constant acts of chivalry.

On this day we’d made about four stops and had just made our way to our last stop of the day.  Ron and his wife, Marjorie, owned the dealership and greeted us with an offer of cold beer, wine, or a mimosa. With this offer of genuine southern hospitality, I immediately knew I was in the right place at the right time. 

Of course, when my daughter of 20 years saw the picture of me with this precious couple, she rolled her eyes at the sight of the mimosa in my hand.

Doing my best job as a mother to seize this opportunity to teach my young one an important lesson, I informed her it would’ve been just plain rude to decline the offer. 

I know true hospitality when I see it and you cannot let those being hospitable to you down. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!

Day four rolls around and as you can imagine I’m about ready to point it to the barn by now.  It’s been good, it’s been beautiful, everyone has been so nice but a different hotel and bed every night is exhausting! You reps out there that have been doing this for years truly have my admiration. 

Every time I go out on one of these trips, I have a new appreciation for all of the hard and lonely travel, not only my husband as done for years, but for each of you as well. 

On this particular day we had one final stop to make before we headed to our hotel for the night.  Upon arrival, we found out our dealer had been called away from his store for a bit. We made the best of the time and walked around the very quaint town of New Bern, NC. I wish we’d had more time there because it’s a real gem.

After finding a delicious coffee we got a call from the dealer, David, telling us to abort our plan of staying at the local Courtyard and to please meet him at his “camp”. My, no I’m not a camper, radar went haywire with this. Camping to me is the Holiday Inn, so as far as I was concerned, we were proceeding with caution at this point.

The vision of a pop-up tent and angry bears was real!

David gave us the address and off we went, but not before stopping for some camping supplies. Our supplies consisted of coffee, two muffins and several types of libations only because it’s rude to show up empty handed when invited to the second home of a friend called “the camp”. 

After about a 40-mile ride away from town, a portion of which involved a two-rut road with no signs of civilization for miles, we arrived at “the camp”.  It was gorgeous and all fears of camping were put to rest.  It didn’t even classify as “glamping”!

David, along with his Daddy and son, refurbished what was once an old tobacco barn from top to bottom. Three generations involved in the project and there was evidence everywhere of the fruit of their labor.

They even went so far as to raise the barn structure onto piers to protect it from the possibility of rising waters coming off of the Pamlico Sound which surrounds the property for miles. 

After a proper tour, once again the sample furniture emerged from the back of our vehicle.  This time, instead of setting up on a hot asphalt parking lot, we had the pleasure of having our “show on the go” at the end of a beautiful dock with a friend that exuded the true meaning of southern hospitality. 

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset that evening and had the pleasure of a breathtaking sunrise before we began our journey home the next morning.

As reps, I’m sure you’ve experienced the same kind of hospitality along the way whether in the south or not. It’s part of the job and it’s a part that speaks to the heart.

How lucky are we to have the pleasure of spending time with amazing people that are willing to share a bit of themselves and the things they love and enjoy?  It’s definitely worth a case of cankles!

Until next time, I hope you’ll have the opportunity to embrace the moments you are given to be hospitable and to be the receiver of hospitality…southern or not!