nice

1. they're nice here in georgia. at least this part of georgia.
2. the lady at the DMV (they call it the DDS here. wonder what they call dentists.....)........the lady at the DDS was nice as pie. nice as whatever your particular favorite kind of pie happens to be. that nice.
3. the man who worked at the first grocery store i went to down here was nice. he insisted on carrying my groceries to the car. insisted. i suppose that would get some feminists all up in arms but instead of getting mad (or even), i let him do it. and as we walked to my car, i learned that he was originally from ohio, too. he was born and raised in tiffin. i said to him, tiffin? that's where heidelberg college is, isn't it? and he said, "i don't think anyone since i have lived here has ever asked me that question. how nice. and yes, it's where heidelberg college is. except it's heidelberg university now. i kinda liked it better when it was heidelberg college." i told him that i graduated from wittenberg university which used to be wittenberg college before it was wittenberg university and that i kinda like wittenberg college better, too. he said, as he put my groceries in the trunk, "it's been so nice talkin' to a buckeye."
4. the woman who cut my hair today was nice. the minute i saw her, i liked her. and she told me as i was leaving that the minute she saw me, she liked me, too. and i could tell she wasn't lying.
5. the lady at the car wash was nice. she dried my car off, without me even asking. i know that she was no doubt hoping for a tip - and i gave her one - but i look at it like this: she dried my car off.
6. the 19-year old kid who was at the hair salon at the same time i was, getting his hair cut, said, "you're 60??????? you look 40!" true, people in ohio have said similar things to me before. but not with such a nice southern accent.
7. rudy's next door neighbors sat down with rudy and me and just started talking like we had known each other a long time. maybe not like we had known each other forever - but for a long time.
8. the guy at toast, a wine store here in town (great name for a wine store, by the way), upon showing him my ohio driver's license, said, "ohio? wow. that's a long way to come for wine," and i said, well, i sort of moved here, and he said, "when?" and i said, a coupla weeks ago, and he said, "welcome. i hope we georgians always treat you right."
9. two of rudy's friends have invited me to have lunch with them. and one of them offered to help me find a job. and they haven't even met me yet.
10. you just about can't get to any place down here without driving on washington road. which is nice. because george washington was nice. or, maybe he wasn't. but i like to think he was. so, for all intents and purposes, he was.
11. but the nicest thing of all about georgia is that rudy is nicer than all of these things put together.