Southern Cookin’ and Drive In Movies | Charlotte NC

One of the abundant moments I knew he’d be a great guy for me was the day he had taken me out for Mexican food. As many of you know, I’ve been battling some major stomach issues over the past several months, and am currently attempting to get all this sorted, but at that point in time, we just didn’t understand the triggers. So there we were, we’d just ordered our food, and my stomach was already just feeling kinda off. I tried to hide it, but he’s gotten pretty good at knowing when I’m miserable. I forced myself to eat a few bites, but things got worse and I knew I needed to get home. I smiled through my misery, tried holding conversations, but he knew. He grabbed my hand and told me we’d get the check and leave… except the waiters were too busy watching the end of one of the World Cup games…. We waited for what seemed like an eternity for them to stop back by our table so we could get the check, but at that point, Chad looked me in the eyes, said he’d be back in a moment, and I watched him hurry to the waiter and pay so I could get home. That’s a man. He helped me to the car and took me home, reassuring me that it was all okay even though I was so upset that once again my stomach was interfering with our dates.

Now that we’ve gotten a fairly good handle on things for now (no greasy/fried foods, no sweets, no red meats, avoid dairy, etc), things have slowly improved. This sweet boy of mine has been working his tail off as he prepares for a move (that I am totally excited over because he will only live like 15-20 minutes away from me instead of the 40 minute drive!!!), and this past Saturday was one of his very rare days off.

“Hellooooooooo!” I said excitedly over the phone Friday evening during our usual late night phone calls.
“Hey pretty lady!”
“If you don’t already have plans tomorrow, can I surprise you?”
“Surprise me?! I mean, I guess!” Obviously he was a bit hesitant haha 😉

Originally I had plans to take us out to dinner to our first date spot as well as a trip to a museum. And then the restaurant was closed, and I could NOT find reservations anywhere because it was Charlotte’s restaurant week. So that was a fail. But as I thought things over more, I realized that maybe I could do something a little more closer to ‘home’.

I grew up in this little ol’ southern town. Don’t ask me how I don’t have an accent – I really don’t know. We lived in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by cotton and corn fields, cows, turkey farms, and the kindest neighbors anyone could know. Growing up, my dad would always take me fishing before school, during the evenings, I’d walk with the older neighborhood girl to K-Mart for a soda, and then weekends were spent eating fried chicken and sippin some real sweet tea while we were chilling in the back of my dad’s truck at the drive in movie theater. Although I’m not a country girl at heart, these are the times and memories I love. And I knew exactly how I wanted my surprise date with Chad to be.

Once I picked him up, we headed out to dinner at the Fresh House in Locust. If you haven’t been there, you need to go! I’m talking some really delicious southern cooking here – anything you can imagine while topped with homemade cobblers and ice creams for dessert! As we sat at our table, I watched him scan the menu with a big grin on his face. “Good choice, babe!” he said as he reached over to rub my arm.

After dinner, I surprised him with a cooler packed full of the two drinks I know he doesn’t have easy access to, but they are his favorites – and that’s Cheerwine and peach Nehi in glass bottles! I had scoured the different country shops near my parents’ home, and came across them before I headed out to get him, and oh he laughed as soon as he saw it all! But why the cooler of drinks? Because our night was to end at the drive in together, sitting through two movies (but this time in the air conditioned car rather than the back of a truck because I’ll get eaten alive by mosquitoes from being “too sweet” as he likes to put it…) and enjoying some time together without the interruptions of technology and my evil stomach. After the movies, it was pretty late, but I had one more stop in mind. The last thing I truly miss about the country is seeing the beautiful sky at night. I drove us out to where my parents live since I knew there’d be no light pollution to take away from the stars, and we stood in the middle of the yard and just stared up at the sky pointing out the different constellations.

I’m pretty sure that’s about as country as our date could get (for me, anyway haha), and I loved every minute of it. Time together doesn’t need to be some extravagant event, and dates don’t always need to require formal attire. Sometimes the best times are those when you are just sitting in your car, laughing over stupid jokes, sipping soda out of a glass bottle, and sharing the love you each hold in your heart. I never would have thought that this man I met years ago would become an anchor in my life that fills my soul with so much happiness, love, respect, and care, but I’m thankful that our paths ran into each other 🙂