Solute to Southern Belles

A southern belle is defined as an archetypal upper class woman of the antebellum south of the United States. It is also the name of a named passenger train service offered by Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS) from the 1940s through the 1960s, running between Kansas City, Missouri and New Orleans, Louisiana.
For the most part, southern women have been depleted down through books, movies and even television sitcoms. Our drawl, polite manners, how we dress and of course our temperament which can be laced with a scalding temper for not having our way, have captured the thoughts and memories of the world. William Falkner enjoyed writing about the southern belle. He shows us to be unique creatures that are the backbone of southern society whether from impoverished homes that laced the old cotton field plantation to the filthy rich that adorn the pages of the society section of major newspapers.

Today I have reflected all the southern belles I have known both real and fiction and when I saw my reflection in the car window earlier today, I asked myself – how in the world have you not been ejected from the sisterhood?

As most of you know, or maybe don’t know – I was adopted into a well bred southern family from Atlanta Georgia. My mother’s family has volumes of books written about their ancestry that goes back forever. I actually am listed within these pages as “the adopted daughter”. My father’s family is also from the same area of Georgia and to this day there are reunions that people come from all over to attend.
I am not sure if it was because I was adopted that caused me to have an edge in my southern breeding. All the amenities given to a southern girl was given to me, but I always seem to have this little edge in me that caused me to always be in trouble.
Now don’t get me wrong. I certainly love all that goes along with being a southern belle, except the art of “fluff”. I shoot straight and for those of you who really do know me, I don’t pull any punches on what I do and do not believe. The good thing is that over the years, I have learned to tone down the “hear me and hear me well” personality trait that does not fare well in most circles. Especially those well bred southern circles, where a true lady is to be seen but not heard.

I have no doubt that somewhere down the line I was from Scarlett O’Hara’s lineage. I think for all too long she has been misunderstood. She was passionate, but she did not allow the circumstances to take her under (like most of my southern sisters do). And you always knew what she believed. Don’t be too hard on her.
Please do not mistake those horrid sweet spud tarts to be true southern belles, for we do not toss around and tell those things that need to not be told to the world and act even worse. We are those strong, graceful women who know how to send shivers down the spine of the hardest nose man and how to stand as a true sister lifting up her arms up when she needs it most.

We are not afraid of getting of hands dirty, but always know when it is time to smell good, be good and look good. The true southern bell, no matter our age, weight or financial worth, knows how to embrace the day, how to run the race and how to be in control not be controlled.

As I saw my reflection in the car window today, I am now an older southern belle, with an edge.I lift my glass of ice cold diet coke and Solute you – my southern belle girly girl friends.