8: Wear the mantle with PRIDE

I've recently been doing some reflecting on the many aspects involved with being a Redneck Woman, Tractor Widow, Hillbill-ette...whatever name you go with.

There is a certain amount of pride when I think of all the true country women. Their fashion and hobbies may be mimicked, but the true character can never be.

So many people buy 10 acres attached to a log cabin and go hunting on baited property and refer to their 5,000 square foot, centrally heated and cooled homes as roughing it. They watch Blue Collar Comedy, wear cammo that matches and join the NRA for the privilege of calling themselves redneck.

These people buy property and start businesses to 'refine' the area. They encourage other like minded city people to move out and proceed to seek local offices. They effectively invade the hillbilly way of life in a desire to live as though in a portrait by Norman Rockwell.

In actuality these are the people who think Taylor Swift and Keith Urban are hard core country. The women wear heals everywhere and have a straightening iron in their purse. The men went to boy scout camp when they were little and drive Hummers. They pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to have high paying jobs and then spend their time off in a gym or tanning bed so it looks like they were outside all day.

They feign at the smell of cow flop and protest the start of hunting season. They are also the ones who shop at organic food stores and wonder why there are so many car accidents due to deer in the area.

True redneck women get dirty, take the lions share of work and will be 100% steadfast to their man. They keep a garden going, two or three kids out of trouble, something always in the oven and are the epitome of love in their house. These women wake up at 5 am, push their men out to work, their kids off to school, clean the house, weed the garden, make breakfast lunch and dinner while keeping a 40 hour money earning work week and still have it in them to look great doing it.

They're tough as nails and I hope to grow up to be just like them. Their men work all week outside, come home and work some more on the property and rightfully call themselves the bread earner. They earn every grain of it. But their lady is the the bread maker. She takes every scrap and puts it to use for the benefit of her family.

This leads to a woman with outdated greying hair, a couple more pounds around the middle and dirt stained hands and cloths, but that gives them the respect of their community and their man. They are loved more than any celeb and referred to with reverence.

The most important things to this matriarch are her family, her religion, her country and her friends.

Family is her legacy. It's what she started, grew and adores. Everything she teaches them and provides to them will raise them into upstanding individuals. No woman wants to be the mother of a villain or fool. The proper redneck woman will ensure this by all means.

Though she may swear, drink, steal and enjoy a night with her man out in the field, she'll live by the Bible and keep Jesus in her heart. In the darkest times and worst events that religion will be what gets her through.

Wars are heartbreaking, recessions just suck and idiots get elected. That's just a part of life. In the words of John Wayne though, 'I may not agree with his politics, but he's my president and I respect the office' could describe her feelings. To respectfully disagree with some city people I know, I must also add that hyphenates are malarkey. Your country is where your heart is. I may not have been born here, but by God I am an American. No other flag will have the honor of flying in my yard.

At one point or another the average hillbilly housewife has had to rely on her friends to survive. It's in the code of the redneck not to turn a way a person in need. This is a vital part to their lives as they survive only as a community. It's been that way historically. The settlers were one family and that's how it is today. Thus it's important not to turn your back on your neighbor, whatever the case may be.

TLC and talk shows make these women over. They pitty the poor walmart country mom with over colored hair and worn cloths. I say salute these women, they are the ones who supported the men who made this country great and they are the ones who deserve so much credit.

You will never grasp the greatness to be like them until you respect and learn from them.