The North and South of It
ONE OF MY earliest ‘movement memories’ (dancers think about these things) is swinging on an old tree swing and enjoying the feeling of being neither here nor there. Moving forward, there was the immediate pull backwards; and then came the momentum and rush of going forward again.
Born in the North from a Southern mother, I always felt an allegiance to both places. But it was the seductive pull of the South that won in the end and where I have called home for the past 19 years.
From the start of my life here, I was labeled a Yankee, but secretly considered it an attribute. The winning card, however, was the DNA of the two divinely Southern women whose heritage I would always carry.
Like the movement on the swing so long ago, the needle of my compass constantly moves between two points, but I could sum it up by saying it is my head that comes from the North, and my heart that feels most at home in the South.
I somehow missed this one. All I can say is, thank god for the yankees down here!!