For a great big part of my life, I grew up in the well-known state of New York.
And before you ask, no I did not grow up in the city.
I lived a close distance to the Bronx and Queens, and it would be a 30-minute drive to the city.
Being so close to the city, it was never a hassle to take the train or taxi down to the city. It was annoying to drive in, but I never cared because I was too young to drive.
In all my years of living there, I had never went to see the ball drop or considered ice skating in central park.
Nope. Those things never happened.
I grew up in a suburban town that had corner shops 2 shops down from each other, a McDonalds on every block, narrow streets, and senseless drivers.
The town was small enough to know of people but big enough to not remember their names.
Everything was in walking distance.
Or so, we could make it walking distance.
Down the street, there was a corner store that carried the best chocolate fudge cookies, hot fries that came in the blue bag with the little farmer on the front, and green tea Arizona. Then across the street right beside a CVS, there was another store that carried all types of candy a little girl could dive in.
Across from that, there was an ice cream shop that carried the best ice cream ever, better than Carvel.
After purchasing all the candy in the world, next destination would be the park. The walk to and from was enough to finish off the candy and begin playing around. It was across from a huge high school that divided itself from the park by a lake and a hidden trail.
The elementary school I attended looked like a castle and it only went from pre-k to 2nd grade. Then I went to a semi-smaller school. There are so many different people in New York. People from all around the world seem to have migrated to my little town: Jamaica, Peru, Russia, Yugoslavia, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Italy, and many more.
This place was not perfect.
Hell. No.
You had your mixture of people who could make your life a living hell, and also those who were the humblest people in the world.
You definitely had your crazy people who would raise hell for some nuts on an ice cream cone.
Or people who would get mad for being slightly nudged.
God forbid if you did not say excuse me.
Once you leave this humble state, you never really realize the lingo you pick up until someone points it out. Through every word, you have someone commenting on your language and after a while, you either:
- Stop explaining the definitions or 2. Change your lingo.
If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me why I called them son…
Things that have been embedded in you when you were young have a way of revealing itself when you become older.
I remember the happy memories and the bad.
The great trips and the musicals.
The crowds of people
The homeless people talking to themselves
The naked cowboy strolling around Manhattan.
I will not say that this is not an odd state. You can literally find anything in everywhere.
