Angeline...

Most of the time when I hear someone refer to a woman in the south it's with terms or phrases not too particularly pleasing.  And most people believe "southern belle" is what we live to be named. 

The truth is a true southern woman doesn't have the word "belle" or anything it implies anywhere in her vocabulary.  There's no faint swooning, no pampering, no weepy temper tantrums... no weaknesses at all.  She's as strong and steady as the oak in her front yard.  She's rock solid in her convictions and beliefs.  She holds families together with tradition, love, all night prayers.  She can work the fields, work the home, and still be the soft flesh her man cannot wait to get home to at the end of the day. 

My inspiration has always been my grandmother.  Her strength is astounding.  Her wit and charm is unwaivering... her love, neverending.  Most of what I've learned about being a woman and a good person came from her.  She taught me things... 

You never call the boy.  You never go out the first time he asks. 

Don't worry about your entrance into the room, worry about the exit.  It's the impression you leave that sticks with people. 

My grandmother has always been larger than life to me, but in the past five years or so, I've watched her begin to decline.  Suddenly she's not quite as tall as I remember her.  Her clothing isn't nearly as crisp and perfect as it once was... she's growing old. 

Last night she fell. 

She got up to get herself a glass of water, and she fell.  She broke her hip... lying there in that hospital bed this morning she looked like a little girl to me. 

She opened her teary pain-filled eyes and smiled between sobs and said, "Well hello, baby... you shouldn't be here.  You're sick!"  But I could tell that was just her way of telling me she was so happy I was there. 

She was hot.  I stood at her bed and fanned her for three hours... until they wheeeled her away to surgery.  

Four hours later, they told us she came through wonderfully.  In recovery she was awake and really alert. 

She didn't look like a little girl anymore. 

But she didn't look like my invincible hero anymore either.  

So she's human after all.... that's ok... she's still my hero.