Counting Our Bushel O’ Southern Blessings‏

by BONNIE BARTEL LATINO

Praise the Lord . . .

For fishin' boats, bluegills, and willow flies ker-plunkin' . . .
Indian summer, winter tans, and frost on the pun'kin.
For precious people with friendly faces and family traditions.

For Florida Gators, War Eagle, and Rock n' Roll, Tide, Rolllll . . .
And the Cotton, Sugar, and Orange Bowls.
We thank Thee for the Flora-Bama and the Redneck Riviera.

For straw hats, linen dresses, high-heeled sandals . . .
Mockingbirds, Main Street, and magnolia-scented candles.
We thank Thee for church bells, southern belles, and well-behaved chill'un.

For fried chicken, catfish, ceiling fans. . .
Graceland, Memphis, Beale Street blues bands.
We thank Thee for Spanish moss, Mason jars, and Mardi Gras beads.

For Pepsi, pralines, sweet potato pie . . .
Hush puppies, hospitality, and chocolate moon pies.
We thank Thee for lightnin' bugs, flounder, and big mouth bass.

For fried green tomatoes, calla lilies, Harvest moonlight . . .
Hydrangeas, honeysuckle, and train whistles in the night.
We thank Thee for cheese grits, camellias, and churches galore.

For boiled peanuts, encore azaleas, sweet tea . . .
Harper Lee, Andy Andrews, Winston Groom, and Eudora Welty.
And, oh how we thank Thee, for our daaarlin' Taylor Hicks

For crepe myrtle, cotton fields, shade trees . . .
Azaleas, ante-bellum homes and summer's breeze.
We thank Thee for Atticus Finch, Forrest Gump, Scarlet – and Rhett, too.

For sand castles, star fish, sea oats . . .
Gumbo, ghost stories, and homecoming floats.
We thank Thee for dogwoods, dolphins, and Dr. Pepper.

For Junior Misses, majorettes, cheerleaders . . .
Handsome men, hayrides, and hummingbird feeders.
We thank Thee for pelicans, pinecones, and pass-along plants.

For live oaks, fifty-yard line seats, NASCAR races . . .
Christmas parades, cottony voices, and social graces.
We thank Thee for bread pudding, Jimmy Buffet, and the world's best beaches.

For weeping willows, watermelon, red-winged blackbirds in flight . . .
Scratch biscuits, sorghum molasses, and porch lights.
We thank Thee for riverboats, red-eye gravy, and rowdy parties.

For home-churned ice cream, roasted corn, and American Indian Pow-Wows ... Sugar cane, cooing doves and mooing dairy cows.
We thank Thee for black berries, bayous, and butterfly gardens.

For Mobile, Natchez, Charleston, Savannah . . .
Porch swings, granny's quilts, and indigo bandannas.
We thank Thee for sunny beaches, warm welcomes, and white wicker rockers.

For fig preserves, field peas, and fiddlin' fests.
We praise Thee, Lord, for blessing the South best!


Bonnie Bartel Latino is a former columnist for "Stars and Stripes" in Europe. The Atmore, Alabama, native won the Military Writers Society of America 2009 People’s Choice Award. Adaptations of this article have been previously published in Alabama in Atmore News (2006) and the Atmore Advance (1999.)