Living Arrangements and Dramatis Personae 2012

It's been three years or so since the last update so for both regular and new readers (Southern Man assumes that "anonymous" is actually several people) here are the cast and recurring characters of Southern Man Blog:

Southern Man lives in a little apartment (Casa Southern Man) on the northwest side of Southern City and owns The Land, ten acres of unimproved former farmland that he is slowly but surely improving and on which he will one day live. The Land is his passion; he spends as much time out there as he reasonably can.

Southern Parents live about fifteen minutes to the west in the Ancestral Manor - the house that Southern Father built about forty years ago on five acres of river-bottom land - which is the locus for many family activities.

Southern Brother lives a few miles from the Ancestral Manor; he and his lovely wife have three fine boys collectively known as the Southern Nephews; they range in age from high school to just out of college.

Southern Sister lives in Southern City not far from Southern Man's workplace with her (female) SO and their adopted twelve-year-old son (SO's nephew); he is also numbered among the Southern Nephews (usually as Youngest Nephew).

There are no Southern Nieces.

Southern Son (formerly known as Teen Son and misleadingly called Eldest Son in some posts; there is no additional Youngest Son) lives with his GF not far from La Casa and the Ancestral Manor. Teen Daughter (who will get promoted out of the teens next year) lives with Southern Man and works and attends college here in the city and dreams of the day when she will be out on her own. Youngest Daughter (sometimes Twelve-Year-Old Daughter) gets promoted into the teens this summer; she lives with her mother and stepfather and various step-siblings and a one-year-old half-sister about six hours north and dreams of the day that she can live with Southern Man.

There are no Southern Grandchildren, at least not yet.

Southern First Cousin Once Removed (this "no name" policy can be cumbersome) and her husband and their charming three-year-old daughter (Southern Second Cousin) also live a few miles from the Ancestral Manor. The three youngest in this bunch (Youngest Daughter, Youngest Nephew, and Second Cousin) are a pretty tight little group and generate all manner of adorable mischief when together. Other various Southern Relatives on Southern Father's side are scattered throughout the south, particularly in a large state south of here. Southern Mother's bunch are mainly in the northeast and are not even a little bit Southern.

Southern Man and Southern Ex were married sixteen years and divorced about six years ago. She remarried and moved many hours north about eighteen months ago, taking youngest daughter with her. There is, sadly, another Southern Ex as Southern Man re-married (briefly) about three years ago. It was a terrible, terrible mistake and hopefully this is the last mention she'll ever get on this blog.

For those interested in ancestry: Southern Mother's line is mostly German but with lines that run deep in American History that may (or may not) include one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Southern Father's line is Irish; Southern Man's namesake immigrated from Ireland through New Orleans with his family about a century and a half ago. Southern Ex is also mostly German but her American line also goes way back and includes a signer of the Mayflower Compact. Southern Man categorizes himself as German-Irish; Southern Son has been to the Emerald Isle and thinks of it as his future home.

Got all that? Stay tuned for the next act in the Life and Times of Southern Man!