Gordy and I have lived in Birmingham, Alabama for nine months now. Time has sure flown by! It's hard to believe that G is already halfway finished with grad school! People always ask us what our favorite thing about living in Bham is, but we are never able to settle for just one thing! So we always ask, "Can we give you our top five?" So here they are (and in no particular order):
1. Food. Hello best BBQ I've ever ever tasted in my life. We made it a goal when we first moved here to find the BEST BBQ joint in town, for our own enjoyment as well as for those who visit us (cough cough we welcome visitors). Seriously, they have some amazing food here! I'm sure I'll be posting more about this so I'll stop talking about food for now.
2. Weather. I don't know about you, but I love the sunshine and the warmth. I also love the humidity! So for me, this is a perfect climate. I understand that I'm crazy for loving the humidity but let's think for a second about how happy your soft skin feels in the humidity, how healthy your hair is, and how green everything is all-year round because of this climate! It's amazing! Also, who doesn't love 80 degrees in late March/April?!! There are a few crazy things we have never had to deal with like tornadoes and crazy ice storms due to the humidity, but besides that the weather is fabulous. Lots more rain than snow which I like because it reminds me of California. I think this year I was reawakened to how fiercely I love Spring, because everything was in full bloom! (I mean we do miss the gorgeous Utah fall, especially in the mountains, the good snow, and other things but we are keeping it positive people!)
3. Family-oriented and religious society. We LOVE that people talk about God and religion here. You hear about God at Walmart, you see billboards about Him, you see church buildings of every denomination around every corner, you get blessed in public places (true story), and you just can't help but love it all! An experience that illustrates this point was when we were having something fixed in our apartment. Gordy was talking to the employee and at one point the employee said, "Well I'm trying to find a second job so if you wouldn't mind praying for me, that would be really awesome." Who just says that? Especially to someone you met five minutes prior! We just love it. Along with the religious society is a society that is so focused on family. It is really neat to meet the politicians who are running for Senate and realize that they have very similar views to yours. The family is so important it is so wonderful to see it treasured here!
4. Southern hospitality. WE HAVE NEVER MET NICER PEOPLE!!! It is contagious. When Gordy and I first moved here we had a big evaluation of how we treat people. We love how genuinely nice people are here and have made that a bigger priority in our lives. People don't honk horns, everyone waves, everyone talks to you, ma'ams and sirs are everywhere, and if you need a helping hand you don't even have to ask for it. Southern hospitality is so real and so hard to describe that I'm convinced everyone needs to experience it for themselves!
5. Centrality. We are three hours away or less from Atlanta and Nashville, four hours from the beach in Alabama or Florida, and five hours from New Orleans. Need I say more? There are also so many other great places closer and a little bit farther...but all within reach!