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Coming from where I’m from

Georgia red clay. I’m a Georgia girl. And I’m proud of it.

In January, I flew home to Atlanta and drove my father and my 3 siblings 3 hours to my grandaddy’s house in south Georgia. Talk about country livin’. One high school, one stop light in town, dirt roads, and pick up trucks. Boyyyyy was it nostalgic. I would get shipped to my cousin’s house for a month every summer. You know making mud pies and playing in cotton fields as a kid and Walmart hang outs and driving just cuz’ as a teenager.

As I pulled into the driveway (it’s really a dirt road with pecan trees in the yard), a burst of curiosity to explore our family farm consumed me. It was as if I was walking the grounds for the first time. Exploring as an adult. I was down. Looking out on the land I started to think to myself “I just didn’t know how good I had it as a kid. Over a 1,000 acres of peaceful serene land as my playground” I was so busy trying to grow up that I didn’t realize how lucky I was to experience the simple things and what’s really important in life.

The first mission was to make that infamous half a mile walk down the road to my great aunt’s house, Aunt Hattie. (Sounds like a strong women right, cuz she is.) Her house was 1 of 4 on the land.

As I began my journey to her house, I started jumping over the pig fences and climbing up on trackers and corn bins. I was seriously 8 again but with adult eyes.  I was so proud to say that this is where I come from. Shout out to my little sister Leah, I had her taking pictures of me every 5 seconds. What is usually a 20 minute walk turned into an hour and a half of talking, picture-taking, and reminiscing with my little sister. As we got close to Aunt Hattie’s house, my little brother road by on the 4-wheeler. Oh you already know I had to get on! I seriously felt like I was 13! And to think “People pay for this.” I finally got to the house and was greeted by the yard dog, because you know every house in the country got a yard dog. After repeating who I was to my aunt 4 times (I mean she is 90) We were in good. Talking about how I live alllll the way in California. “Youse a big girl” 🙂 After many laughs and hugs and pics, me and Leah were backout.

Behind Aunt Hattie’s house are train tracks, so you know we had to go. And my adventurous ass had to climb on the deserted carts. What can I say I do it for the thrill. My little sister being the smart girl she is did a walk through of all the carts and around the tracks to make sure nothing was out the ordinary. We jumped right into a full fledge iPhone photo shoot. We must have spent 2 hours just playing and climbing around. We spent over 7 hours exploring and were upset when the sun was down. Exploring at night is a no no without a shot-gun. Bobcats, gators, snakes, and foxes–no bueno!

You never know how bless you are until you are able to go back to where it all started and realize the beauty in every experience you had. My short weekend trip back to Georgia was the one of the best experiences I’ve had in a long time. I take a piece of home everywhere I go. And believe you me I go and seldom stop.

Enjoy the pics!