Back in my hotel room as I slowly took one more whiff of the understated, yet exquisite, perfume that the store owner of OoLala had dabbed gently onto the insides of my wrist, I thought of my first day in Georgetown, Texas. The fragrance that lingered was a metaphor for my day, for across my sky that evening was ‘kindness’ written across in a myriad of colours…perhaps in capitals too.
Even if I had arrived in Georgetown, Texas, armed with a guide on how to have the perfect day in town, a script on its people would not have been a part of it. And yet how lovely they had been! Even more charming than the beauty of the Town Square which is said to be the loveliest in Texas, and which I had so looked forward to visiting.
There were the Uber drivers who, curious to know what I was doing in the city, had provided me with several layers of reassurance about the city and the University that we were admitting our daughter into. They talked to me about the town, their lives in it, the protective community around, the lovely students who they often ferried, and more. There was the lady at First Texas Bank our daughter had visited with the Southwestern University team to process the requisite formalities to open her bank account. She told our daughter that she loved children, had several of her own, biological and adopted, and shared her mobile number with our daughter, letting her know that she could call her any time she needed a break, any time she needed someone to talk to. And then there was the owner of OoLala who, as soon as she learnt I was in town to admit our daughter into University, presented me with a little bottle of perfume for her.
This then was Southern Hospitality I had often read about, described by Dee Jackson as “Not a tangible thing but an attitude which has been ingrained in Southerners forever. It’s a feeling of being sincerely welcomed as a guest or a long-lost friend; a way of life that lets people be as warm as the climate. It’s an easiness in speaking with total strangers or anyone, a unique friendliness encompassing the whole way of life in the deep south. It’s not something one does, it’s the way one is.”
I would learn and experience more of this way of life over my next few days in Georgetown as I took in the little town and all it had to offer – from the acclaimed Town Square to the enchanting and historic home-lined avenues around the Square and the University. Established in 1848 as a trading centre for the surrounding agricultural community, Georgetown according to Wikipedia is “home to one of the best-preserved Victorian and pre-WW1 downtown historic districts.”
Georgetown is also the Red Poppy Capital of Texas, a reference that has its origins in a story as charming as Georgetown. The story goes that soon after the First World War, a soldier serving in the American Expeditionary Forces sent his mother poppy seeds all the way from Flanders Field to Georgetown. Not only did they bloom, but they further pollinated across the city. In April 1990, Georgetown was officially declared the Red Poppy Capital of Texas. Today, one sees red poppies in various avatars in and around the Town Square and an annual Red Poppy Festival year pays homage to and celebrates these red blooms.
The Town Square oozed old world charm and warm neighbourliness as I strolled through its sidewalks with installations that sprang out of street corners, old-fashioned street lamps, inviting benches set against Victorian-styled buildings, and even flag posts welcoming freshmen to Southwestern University, which established in 1840 is the oldest college in Texas. The small-town character of Georgetown was very evident when I hopped across one evening for a Music on the Square Summer Concert. It was an Elvis tribute and as “Elvis” performed his numbers and serenaded the women in the audience, it felt like one big family picnic with casual chatter and bonhomie sweeping across the lawns of the Square.
Back at Southwestern University the evening before we were leaving, as we ordered sodas at one of the campus cafes, the lady at the counter asked where we were from. “Anytime your daughter needs a hug, tell her to come to Miss Tracy,” she said, “…and Miss Tracy will give her a hug.” At that moment I knew that the southern charm would gently wrap her arms around the daughter we would leave behind in Georgetown.
