Blueberries, sunflowers, and cheese straws

This past weekend our family took our first trip together. All four (of course Amos is included) of us and seemingly 3/4th's of our household items were packed tightly into the car for a short trip to Bliss, USA. We traveled to a place where everything is perfectly slow. We traveled to a place where every true Southern lady has her own recipe for cheese straws. We traveled to a place where picking blueberries on a Sunday afternoon before a thunderstorm is as normal as going to get the mail. We needed this little first getaway as a family. Even the little guy knew he was somewhere different but somewhere so good.

There is just something about those South Georgia back roads that tickles at my heart every time we make the trek back to Brad's home town. Once you pull off the interstate in Perry the cars disappear and the sunflowers or seasonal crop takes the place. We always roll the windows down about half way and open the sunroof just to let the fresh, un-Atlanta air sneak into our lungs. Slowly but surely we both relax and for a short while we are even eerily quiet. In our short 18 months of marriage a majority of our best conversations (the fun ones and the challenging ones) have taken place on these back roads....it's something about the lack of billboards and Range Rovers that just makes my thoughts and my heart swell. I am much more able to figure out who I am and where I am going when I am en route to Brad's home town. Thank goodness for a haven to sneak away to when the city life starts to cramp us. Brad and I can't wait for Brooks to truly experience the South Georgia lifestyle too. We may be biased but we agree that he will surely be the coolest kid on the block when he can name the buildings in the Atlanta skyline just as fast as he can start a fire in the woods or point out the different crops among acres and acres of vegetation (sidenote: though I may love my trips to South Georgia I can't quite claim that I know the best activity that is analogous to" naming the buildings in a skyline." You can certainly make fun of my analogy if you choose but in my perfect world "huntin", starting fires, and knowing crops is quite the southern boy thing to do. Sidenote end.)

And going home to Plains sure makes me fall for Mr. Brad a little more each time. I love to see him at home both physically and in his heart. His face seems a little brighter the moment we turn in the gravel driveway. We picked blueberries in mema's yard Sunday afternoon just as a big, bad thunderstorm began to invade the sky. You have never seen someone more unphased by a daunting, black sky than a Southern boy who knows the ways of a good South Georgia thunderstorm.I could tell he had seen many of those in his younger years. I loved the thrill that came as we tried to pick as many plump balls of goodness as we could before the bottom fell out of the sky. Secretly, I think we both didn't really care if we had been caught in the middle of the magnificent thunderstorm.

I love the stories, too, that I hear each trip we make. Just when you think you know someone I hear another tale from an old neighbor or better yet, Brad tells me about selling IBC rootbeer with his best buddy for some pocket change. He always seems to tell his childhood stories with much more color and detail and I just love it! Honestly, I learn more about my husband a few times a year when I get to meet more of his childhood friends than with living with him on a daily basis.....like I said, there is just something that takes over all norm when we travel south of Macon.

Anyway, I feel a little lighter as I always do after our quick trip to Plains. Brooks hasn't stopped talking about it either....he just loved our little getaway too! What a lucky girl I am to have married a good ole south Georgia charmer! Here are a few pictures from our adventure.....