This weekend, I took Friday off and spent Friday and Saturday in the family's summer house in Yulan, NY. Well, I didn't just spend it there. This weekend was hot like hell, and the house has no air conditioning. Which is fine overnight, because it gets really cool. But when the temps are a very humid 100+, that's no place for human habitation. So, I took my sweet old time driving up there.
I bummed around the outlets, and got some pretty sweet deals.
I visited the Verizon store, because I've been having issues with my cell phone. The closest Verizon store (along with the closest Starbucks) is in Middletown, about an hour away from Yulan, and the last big town I pass through on my way up there.
Yulan is a very solitary place.
I remember when I used to spend my summers up there as a kid. There isn't much to do in Sullivan County, so most of my days used to consist of walking to Washington Lake and swimming. When my best friend Sara would visit me there, we'd play "king of the dock" with my brother. When we decided not to do the lake stuff, we'd either walk up the hill to Aunt Ronnie's house and play in her hammock, or we'd walk down to Beaver Brook and watch the water go under the road, which doubled as a dam or something. We would also spend a lot of time playing "Little House on the Prairie" and "The Ten Commandments."
Doing the same thing day in and day out got really boring really fast. Especially when one of the activities involved watching the water flow. So you'd better believe when we got to go to Jamesway or Lloyds in Port Jervis, that was the highlight of the week. When we got to take that hour long trip to Middletown, usually once or twice a summer, it was a super treat. There was a different Jamesway there, and even a K-Mart! There was a mall with stores I recognized. And there was Playtogs, this clothing store that looked like a warehouse. I loved going there because I knew I was going to get new clothes. Middletown was like the hick version of heaven.
And I mean it when I say it's the hick version. Upstaters are a very unique bunch.
When I refer to upstaters, I don't necessarily mean all people from upstate NY. Nope, some people have avoided becoming that, despite having been born in Hick Central. Dusty comes to mind. So does my friend Koi. They both grew up upstate, but somehow they avoided the, um, hickiness of it all. But they are the rare exception, and most of them move down to NYC early in life, leaving behind the people who would do things like cut their kids' hair in a mullet, and live in a house with rusted out cars on the front lawn. Basically, they're rednecks without the Southern accents.
Watching them at the mall on a Friday or Saturday night can be tons of fun. So, on Saturday when I got bored of the solitude of Yulan, I started my trek home, and as usual I stopped back at Middletown to "fuel up" at Starbucks. I cannot be away from espresso for too long. (I'm a hopeless addict)
It was still early, and going home didn't seem like all that much fun, so after my coffee I decided to people watch a bit at the mall (and bargain hunt at Borders' going out of business sale), where half the men had a Paul Sr.-grade handlebar mustache. And let's not forget the mulleted toddlers. *shudder*
It was there that it occurred to me how I'm not as much of a hick as I think I am. Sometimes, when hanging with my more sophisticated, city-dwelling friends I get a hick complex. I'm from the boonies of Long Island, after all. I don't have public transportation at my doorstep. I don't work in downtown Manhattan. Central Park is not my backyard. However, I also don't live an hour from the closest mall, or Starbucks or Verizon store. I also don't spend my Saturday nights at said mall because that's the closest entertainment. Manhattanites may look down on me as "bridge-and-tunnel" riffraff, but it could be a whole lot worse.
When the mall closed at 9:30 I hopped into my car and drove the rest of the way home, deciding to stop at my local bar on the way. I looked around. I saw sophistication, and no Bud, Coors or Miller, and I thought, This life really isn't so bad.
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