By Jeff Moeller

When I first moved down South roughly four years ago, I noticed men and women wearing winter coats and hats on a 50-degree day.

I had to stop and look again. What was wrong with this picture?

Back home in New Jersey, I would be walking around in a t-shirt in 50-degree weather. A few years later, I would discover why those people were wearing winter coats. Welcome to the South.

There also was the initial visit to the local grocery store. While browning in the frozen food aisle of a Publix, a man next to me asked “how was my day going?” I was startled and thought what this man was going to do next. Immediately, I was on my guard. Strangers don’t just start talking to you up North. Welcome to the South.

But, wait, there’s more. On one of our trips down before we moved in, my wife and I had our dogs in the backseat of our car. We had to make a stop, and I pulled over. Suddenly, the car behind us pulls up alongside us. Like the grocery store, I feared the worst.

I watched the passenger- side window roll down, and the man driving asked if we needed any help. My immediate thought was that he was going to pull out a gun. Fortunately, I was wrong and the man was truly sincere. I was touched. Again, this wouldn’t happen up north.

Welcome to the South. I distinctly remember my first Christmas when I stepped outside and it was 75 degrees. Something felt wrong because there wasn’t a typical Norman Rockwell winter setting with some remnants of snow on the ground and in the trees with a fireplace roaring inside your home. Yet, somehow it felt right, and it felt good.

Closing in on our fourth year here, there is a genuine sense of warmth, kindness, and sincerity that we have experienced in our transition here.

Northerners in the metropolitan New York/New Jersey area and even in my native Pennsylvania always have had a guarded sense. Opening up to a stranger was usually verboten.

Yes, I’m not naive to think there aren’t their share of bad areas and bad people in the Georgia and South Carolina area. Unfortunately, we don’t have a perfect country or world.

But the South has made us feel at ease, away from the traffic jams, high taxes, and congested living. When I taught in Savannah for a year, I remember one of my colleagues telling me, “Welcome to Slow-vannah.” I quickly discovered what she meant.

I have always been a summer person, so the constant stream of 80 - or 90-degree plus days doesn’t tend to bother me, but the humidity has its effects. However, I’ll take it over the months of a damp, dreary, gray cold landscape that usually has its share of snowfalls that can range from two inches to two feet.

The only season I do miss is the fall with its brisk temperatures. Before we departed, springs tended to be filled with leftover winter temperatures as well as periods of snow and plenty of rain.

As far as the food, I have found two places that can make a true Philly cheesesteak, and I am still looking for a deep-fried hotdog and a soft pretzel (if you have a place for them, let me know).

Does anyone know what a shoo-fly pie is?

I do appreciate fried pickles, macaroni-and-cheese, crab cakes, and banana pudding.

In regards to the people wearing winter coats and caps, I now understand. My body has adjusted to the temperature difference, and I do get a chill when the temperature hits 50. It has been a smooth transformation for us here, and we have to thank you “Southerners” for the hospitality. Don’t take your neighborly, rubbing elbows environment for granted. The Northern transplants have reveled in it.

Sure, we take our trips back north to see our daughter, family and friends as well as gorge ourselves on those food favorites from our past (I always bring a cooler filled with those favorites back here).

Still, the South has turned into the place to live instead of just the nice place to visit!

Jeff Moeller is a freelance correspondent with the Bryan County News.