read it. saw it. loved it.

I was the youngest in the theater by thirty years. Why no young people were there is a mystery to me. From my next to last row perch, I can see everyone. A group of four women, silver hair dyed blonde, chatted gaily about the upcoming feature. "There's one part you might not like," one says to the other. The miscarriage scene. That has to be what she's referring to. Two other slightly less silver haired ladies sat quietly on the other side of the room. I'd like to think they were contemplating the depth and importance of what we were about to take in, but I'm probably wrong. A man enters alone. Moments pass. A woman joins him. She was probably in the bathroom, but I like to think that they are lovers, meeting for the movie under cover. A secret rendezvous away from their normal lives. Two men sit together. They look happy. I'm happy for them. Then I wonder: Are any of these people Southern? Do they know what its like to live there? What do they think of the South? Don't think that Southerners are like the awful women in the film. We're not. Promise. Maybe in the past. Not now. It's not the norm.

Then the film starts. I am instantly enchanted. Transported through space and time. Those accents. That scenery. My heart ached for that place. I could almost feel the warm, humid breeze I saw rippling through the leaves of the weeping willow on the plantation. I closed my eyes. I was in the South again. The air is humid, but clear; no city smog exists here. Summer afternoon thunderstorms occur almost daily from June until September. Thousands of stars light up the night sky. Symphonies of crickets, cicadas, and frogs provide the accompaniment to the rhythmic creaking of our front porch rocking chairs. It is quintessential countryside - the perfect small town. Life is different here. Everything moves slower. Its quaint charm has a hypnotic effect. Once you go country, you never go back. My heart smiled. For two and a half hours I was there. In the South. My South. Then my eyes opened again as I walked outside to my reality, and realized that I need that place more than anything in my life.