Open Thread

I like the idea of golf shirts w/ a small brownstone where you’d normally see an alligator or guy on a horse.

Snappy, welcome home. Great post at 10:18!!!!

Welcome back, Snappy!!

Great stories, thank you!

Good morning everyone. I’ve made it back to Brooklyn. Things are still a bit emotionally off kilter, but I wanted to pop in and share something with you all. As you know, my gramma passed and I headed off to Louisiana for the services. Whenever traveling around the country, I’m always taking note of different customs and traditions of various people and places. Everyone has always said that true southern peoples are the most polite and respecting people in the country. Having visited the deep south many times in my life it was something I always believed as well, but was really struck by it over the last few days. Southern tradition demands that the ultimate respect is always shown for a life lost and the grieving family left behind. After the funeral we did the typical funeral car procession to the burial site. As all of our cars followed the hearse down the winding roads and highways from the church to the grave, every single car on the opposite side of the road pulled over and stopped. The men in those cars took off their hats and they all bowed their heads. Radios were turned off, cigarettes put out, children in the back seat immediately stopped yelling. All of these cars did not start up again until our entire procession had passed, as they feel it is the ultimate disrespect to drive by a family proceeding in grief. It sounds so simple, so natural, but it touched me. I felt like every person along those roads were saying that they felt our pain and wanted to be sure that I and my family knew that we would not be the only ones praying for my gramma’s soul. I love the south 🙂

And, on a lighter note, I was also struck by funny character of my fellow New Yorkers. On my return flight, I had a short layover in North Carolina. When we finally began to board the plane in NC to come back to LaGuardia, I could tell that most passengers were New Yorkers. I heard fewer “yes ma’am” and “no sir” and very few southern accents. But the funniest part was that one guy on the plane about 2 rows behind me would not turn off his cellphone so that we could push back from the gate and head over to take off. The flight attendant kept asking him to shut it off, but he would not listen. Finally, the flight attendant got on the loudspeaker and announced to the rest of us that we were going to be late because that one guy was still talking on his cell. The New York accents suddenly came out and the plane was filled with a chorus of “GET-CHO-AZZ” as in:

GET CHO AZZ OFF THE PHONE SO WE CAN GO HOME!

IF YOU WANNA TALK ON THE PHONE WHY DON’T CHOO GET CHO AZZ OFF THE PLANE?

YOU BETTER TURN THAT DAMNED PHONE OFF BEFORE I COME BACK THERE AND GET CHO AZZ!

Rofl! I love New York 🙂