Life in Mayberry Part 3

Even though we only moved 3 hours south of St. Louis,
our growing-up city, the difference in talking patterns is
amazing. We hadn't been here too many years when
Kent asked a friend, Danny, to come help him do some
work on our house. Kent said to me, "I am so confused.
Danny's eyes said, 'Yes', but his words said, 'No'." What
Danny had said was, "I don't care to." In St. Louis that
means, "No, I don't want to." But we came to learn that
here in Mayberry, A/K/A Doniphan, that means, "Yes." We
would have said, "I don't mind."

I kept getting strange looks from my friends when I would
tell them I lived on a rock road. Jackie especially would look
befuddled. Later I learned that I actually lived "down the
gravel." Jackie thought I meant that I lived on a cobblestone
road. My kids have all grown up knowing we lived down the
gravel. They do not make the faux pas that I do, lucky them!
See, it is true that children who are immersed in a foreign
language will learn it easier than their adult family members.

I also didn't know that in order to look cool here you had to
"show out", I grew up "showing off." Not that I ever ended
up looking cool. My eight year old daughter told me the other
day, "Mom, Dad is cool, but you are, you know...(not cool)." I don't
worry over such things, she will grow to be a best friend to her
mom, I am confident!

I went to overnighters, or sleepovers, as a child. Here there
are bunking parties. The list goes on, but I will quit here.
It is interesting that the confusion caused by the Tower
of Babel builders continues to this day, even in so little
a distance as 200 miles. Won't it be tremendous to be with
the Father of Communication in Heaven, and to never
be misunderstood again.