North vs South

"You're like a Northerner." she said and laughed.
"What does that even mean?" I replied eyes wide as I leaned over the wall that connected our cubicals. "No, seriously. Why do you think that I am Northern?"

Northern. The word came off my tongue awkwardly.
You could almost feel the hills of Tennessee buckle under the accusation.

"Well, hmmm." Katie held her coffee cup in her hands, trying to form her response in a perfectly public relations manner. She titled her head, "You're straight shooting, loud and animated...but of course I love you for it."

I paused for a moment, waiting for the Augusta, GA native in her cowgirl boats, dress and scarf to wrap it all up with the most offensive of terms, "bless your heart."

But she didn't. She probably thought it, though. I should ask.

It's not that I am completely offended by being coined a Northerner. We all know my love for the great state of New Jersey and that my Dad's side of the family is *cough* Northern. What I really wonder is how does a girl born in Florida and raised in Tennessee qualify as a Northerner? Both states fall underneath the Mason-Dixon line.

Clearly, to my dear friend Katie (bless her heart), your personality and mannerisms are not defined by your geographic location, but more by your attitude. She casually tosses aside the fact that I absolutely love country music, grew up surrounded by cotton fields, chose as an adult to live on not 1 but 2 farms with various animals, always always chose fried okra as my side vegetable when given the option, actually enjoy cooking and baking and could drink sweet tea non-stop everyday for the rest of my life. I guess none of these count. I do have highlighted blonde hair, but can never make it big enough to touch heaven so I guess that's a strike as well.

I surmise that when you boil it all down, my big mouth and flailing arms throw me, country music and all, into the Northerner pile. Perhaps, I should get everything I owned monogrammed and start really loving SEC football and biting my tongue.

So if I'm not Southern. Who is? Could I be considered a form of an Arnold Palmer drink? Half lemonade, half tea. Half Southern (my mama is from Kentucky, y'all), half Northern.

Tell me, how does someone qualify as Southern or Northerner in your book? I need to know. Apparently, I have a lot of homework to do.