90° of Fame

South Georgia is a happening place to be, y'all! So yeah, there's only one Target & one Starbucks within an hour and a half; but you can go to Sunday School taught by President of the United States/Habitat for Humanity champion/US Navy veteran & naval nuclear physicist/Nobel Peace Prize winner "for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development" Jimmy Carter.

Then the very next gorgeous 90°F blue-sky day, you can go to lunch at your favorite local café, eat, and chat with Phillip Phillips' parents. :-D Yep, we live in Phillip Phillips' tiny hometown.
[Who is Phillip Phillip's? This year's true American Idol! :-)]

[PS - I looove this song! Dave Matthews sends me right back to high school & college = DMB was my ultimate fave!]

There wasn't a big lunch crowd, and BJ (the café owner) & I always chat every time I go in there. She got us all talking together! :-) His mama is just so nice, and we talked a lot about how hard it is for them as parents to have had him home so long (since he lived at home for college) & for him to be suddenly gone now for such long time. They are such precious people! Pray for her sweet mama heart and for Phillip's rough battle with his kidney stones. He is trying to hold off on major surgery until the show is over; he had a stint put in down there and is in major pain. If that were Will on the other side of the country away from me for the first time in his life on a[n inter]national stage and hurting so physically, I would be a complete basketcase!!! They're hoping to be able to fly back out west next Wednesday, if he's still on; but it's really rough, b/c not only can there be no planning ahead, but they both work full-time, and it's so expensive. She was so cute, though, when she said AI has always been her favorite show, and now when she's calling to vote, she still can't get over that she's voting for her own son! :-D

We had Leesburg's other famous singer, Luke Bryan, come home this Christmas for our parade; so I guess if Buster Posey comes home then for one of Will's Dixie Youth Baseball games, our personal Leesburg Circle of Fame will be complete. :-P I'm counting on the whole AI crew descending upon us in the next couple weeks for the hometown visits - will I make it in a background shot? ;-)

What do people here in our tiny middle-of-nowhere rural farming community think of all this? This Albany Herald story articulates it pretty well - not only re: Phillip Phillips, but also re: the value of being a member of a community. The way we foster our personal connections to other people is my favorite trait of being a Southerner. Southerners aren't reserved & private - we do life together! :-)