We have lived above the Mason-Dixon Line for almost 22 years now, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We have a wonderful community of friends, go to a great church, and our adult children will probably stay here, and so will we. My husband is British and he moved across the pond for me, so I thought the very least I could do was move North for him years ago when he needed a new job. When we arrived, our accents were noticed right away, and at points, we decided they were a liability, so we lost them, but gained them back when we realized that we were accepted regardless of the accent of our birthplaces.

 I must admit that I love living here. The winters are not awful, and the summers are glorious, not to mention the beautiful falls and springs. Although I missed the South, we eased into living in our new city fairly well. Pittsburgh has many advantages, including having an incredible arts and culinary scene, professional sports teams and most of all, it is a great place to raise children. The only struggles I have really had were gardening zones and football.

 For a person who was used to planting outside in March, moving from Zone 8 to Zone 5 was quite a shock. Not only is the growing season shorter, but it was delayed. Sometimes we have had frost on Mother’s Day, so it is not really safe to have flowers outside until Memorial Day. This also goes for what I wore. The first Easter we lived here, I actually wore an Easter dress and sandals to church. Never again. I had to understand that during that time of year, no ensemble is complete without a coat and maybe boots.

As for football, I was amazed that during my first football season, stories on the radio, television and in the newspaper did not include the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They were found in the newspaper somewhere on page 3 or 4, while the reports that dominated the media were about Pitt, Penn State and WVU. For a die-hard Alabama fan like me, this was not only preposterous, but sacrilegious. My only consolations were that Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania gave Alabama Joe Namath and Alabama has returned the favor by sending a number of Alabama players to the Steelers roster.

Thankfully, the likes of Cracker Barrel, Milo’s Tea, Moon Pies and Dale’s Sauce have made it up here and I can always read Southern Living magazine so, I am content, because you can take the girl out of the South, but you can’t take the South out of the girl. Though, in a tip of the hat to all of my fabulous Pittsburgh friends, I will continue using y’all instead of yinz. #loveyall #Southerner #Pittsburgh #gardening #yall #yinz #Alabama