Down Here in "Mexico"

My sister is moving here from Portland, Maine and is in her little car with her cats right at this moment, driving across Arkansas. She has had a good trip so far, managing to get out ahead of yet another big snowstorm in the northeast, and hopefully arriving here before a low pressure system sweeps some possible tornadoes through the southern states later today.

Jean made me laugh until I cried, describing a waitress in Virginia who, upon hearing her destination (which J tried to clarify, to no avail), called everyone over to Jean's table. Adjust your ear for a southern accent, delivered in a slightly shrieky voice: "Y'all, come over here! She's moving herself to Mexico! Honey, why're you going to Mexico?" People crowded around, offering advice. One man said he'd been to Mexico, on the same trip when he went to Las Vegas, and they had a blizzard and the desert, all in one trip! More advice: "Now y'all bundle up, honey, the temp is going to dip down to 55 tonight! Hope it's warmer than that in Mexico!"

See One of Our Fifty is Missing from New Mexico Magazine for more of these New Mexico/Mexico mixups. People here often have a hard time convincing folks that we still live in the U.S. When we last checked, we were located right here between the states of Texas and Arizona.