5 Things I Miss After Moving From The South

I left the South not thinking I’d miss the place that helped shape who I am

I moved to Colorado and I told everyone that I couldn’t wait to get away. Maybe it’s the politics or the heat. Okay, it’s probably the heat, but after living in the South and seeing what else the country had to offer, there was a little voice in the back of my head that kept telling me it was time to pack up and leave.

My fiancèe found a job that she wanted and we did just that. We left and thought we wouldn’t look back.

I didn’t think that I’d get homesick, but I did, and it snuck up on me like that monster in the shower that stalks you while your eyes are closed as you’re washing your hair. For me, it happened as soon as I got accustomed to my new Southwestern life. There are so many things I didn’t think I’d miss, but boy was I wrong. Some of these things I didn’t know were tied to my being. The South put its hooks in me good. Real good. And I was missing it a little (a lot).

1. Sweet Tea

I’m talking, “I love to have a little tea with my sugar” tea. The kind that makes you smack your lips after a sip. The kind that your grandma has a recipe for that you can’t ever duplicate. I drank sweet tea maybe once a day, if not more. If you cut me open, my blood would have been 90% sweet tea. I thought it was something I could do without, but I had no idea how much it had become a part of my daily living. Of course I can make it at home, but it’s something about going somewhere, ordering sweet tea with your meal, and not having to add your own sugar or having to suffer through some Milo’s. On top of that, there were no more sweet potato pies or cobblers or really seasoned food. Is this what it’s like in Hell?

2. Zaxby’s

Okay now before you judge me, Zaxby’s is freaking delicious. There is no other fast food place that tastes like Zaxby’s because it is in the highest echelon of Southern fast food. When I moved, I thought that it was a nationwide chain. I found out that it just feels like that because in almost every town east of the Mississippi, one of these beautiful slices of heaven exist. I pulled up the nearest Zaxby’s on Google maps the day I stepped foot in my new apartment…