I guess I should have started the blog off with this post, but... You know. As the title suggests, in broad strokes I'm a reformed used-to-be-Republican that has spent my entire 35 years living, learning, and growing up in The South. I'm a questioning Christian, a politico with a waning desire to remain so, a hunter, a fisherman, a lover of good Scotch, and a traveler in search of the perfect pulled pork sammich. I'm an amateur and aspiring gourmet eater. I worship regularly in the house of college football. I bleed my school's colors and am a third generation of said university.
One aspect of who I am has fairly recently been moved from that category that we all have, the one we suppress, to a new category that is one of reluctant acceptance. I have FSH muscular dystrophy and about 5 years ago it put me in a wheelchair. I fought it. I fought it hard. It's been a slow transition to get where I am now. I'm comfortable with myself; more comfortable than I ever was with myself even before I was rolling everywhere. It surprisingly made life much easier in many respects. It's so much easier that I no longer think about folks looking, staring, asking uncomfortable or inappropriate questions, like the lady on the elevator at work that asked if I dressed myself. I wanted to tell her not to worry about my dressing practices, and maybe she needed somebody to help her dress herself, because I was looking much better than she was.
FSH has sculpted my thoughts and actions in ways that I'd never have imagined as a kid. I had my life mapped out as many kids do, I'm sure. College, law school, married, a kid or two by the time I was 25... Not so much.
I was a fiercely Republican, very politically aware young fella, and as I look back on it, also a very uncaring, selfish person. I think I was nice, but I don't think being nice is mutually exclusive with being uncaring. While I don't see myself as a Republican, the party of God according to most of my Southern Baptist brethren, another group I remain only loosely associated, I'm not sure I'd call myself a Democrat or Libertarian for that matter. I guess I'm in a state of flux in that area.
I'm a Southerner. I can't escape it though sometimes I think I'd like to try. Being from and being immersed in The South is a complex thing. It's the stereotypes that have been over-commercialized and adulterated into some monster truck driving, Honey Boo Boo mimicking, redneck idolizing, thing that suggests there is a total lack of sophistication which has been replaced with ignorance and pride in said ignorance. It's years of racial hatred and something can can be described no other way than pure evil masked at times by religion, but out in the open in plain sight.
It is also of community taking care of each other. It's men showing their young sons how to appreciate the bountiful natural resources we are surrounded by. It's kids swimming in the pond down the road. Its church revivals that last longer than children's ability to keep from squirming and not so quietly asking daddy when it will be over. It's the sound a whippoorwill makes at dusk. Its gardens in the summer, and fresh corn and butterbeans. It's the sound of a turkey's thundering gobble as it rolls through an oak bottom on a frosty morning in early spring. It's family gatherings where there's inevitably a bucket of KFC, babies are passed around, and the whir of pedestal fans are drowned out by laughing and storytelling. Yes, and don't forget gallons of syrupy sweet iced tea.
The thing that holds me here is that no matter how bad it seems at times, it's home... it's family. Family is huge. I've been unbelievably blessed in this regard. I knew and know all 4 of my grandparents well. Their love is as evident as anyone could possibly hope. My parents have been married for 41 years this year and have set a fantastic example for me. Even my extended family is great. I don't have memories of strife between the immediate family at any time. For this, I am very blessed.
There's a little picture of me that I'm sure will be fleshed out over the coming however long I keep going with this. I welcome your comments. All I ask is that if you disagree with me or anyone else, you keep it respectful.
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