Mt. Pleasant Classical Academy

A friend from Massachusetts sent this “You know You’re FROM MASSACHUSETTS IF:” to me. I moved us to Mass from the mid-west after graduating with my MS, and we lived there for 16 years, 16 long years. Often when I think back to those years I really have to force myself to remember that there were some good things that happened while we lived there, in a tiny town 60 miles west of Boston. Yes, there were lots of difficulties, not marriage wise, but with trying to live in an area where being ‘from’ there, having your ancestors from there was so important to so many people. Just before we moved I visited my barbershop so Rose, my hairdresser for 16 yrs, could cut my hair one last time and I could say goodbye. While she cut my hair she asked me a strange question but it sums up quite well how the area felt to us;

“Please, tell me, how has it been living in Lrrrrrrrr as a foreigner?”

A Foreigner! Yes, that summed up my experience in a nutshell. American born I was absolutely considered a foreigner in the area since my great-grandpappy hadn’t been born there.

So as I read these statements I chuckled cause I ‘GOT’ all of them, and for a little bit it helped to remember these funny little things about the state and area. Thanks May.

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You know You’re FROM MASSACHUSETTS IF:

You think if someone is nice to you they either want something or they are from out of town.

The public transportation system is known as the “T” and you’d rather drive in bumper to bumper traffic for 4 hours to get to Boston than use the “Orange Line”. [[rode the Orange Line many times to Boston, since it really was a favorite of the boys. Before kids we avoided the “T”]]

You could own a small town in Iowa for the cost of your house. [HAHA, we purchased our home in DE with twice the land and 3x the sq. footage for what we sold our home in MA for. Yep, so true!]]

There are 24 Dunkin Donuts shops within fifteen minutes of your house, and that is how you give directions.

If you stay on the same road long enough it eventually has three different names.

53 degrees is “on the warm side”. [[Be forwarned if you ever visit us, that is about where I keep our house temperature in the winter. But I still laugh when I hear my MA friends discuss a Heat Wave. That means the temperature reached 90 for 3 days in a row. LOL!!!]]

You’ve walked to Brigham’s for an ice cream cone in the snow.

You cringe every time you hear some actor/actress imitate the” Boston Accent” on TV. [[I knew we had lived there too long when the folks around us sounded ‘normal’]]

You call chocolate sprinkles “jimmies”.

A water fountain is called a bubbler. (Say it “bubbla”).

You can go from one side of town to the other in less than fifteen minutes.

You know how to pronounce towns like Worcester, Haverhill, Peabody, Scituate, Leicester, Chatham, and Leominster.

You know what they sell at a “packie”. [[Guess what this one is, but only if you are not from MA]]

You keep an ice scraper and lock de-icer in your car all year round.

Paranoia sets in when you can’t see a Dunkin Donuts, ATM or CVS.

You’ve pulled out of a side street and used your car to block oncoming traffic so you can make a left-hand turn. [[Isn’t this what you are supposed to do? Still remember the time I freaked my SILs out when I pulled a U-Turn on MainStreet in their little town. They reminded me that I could be thrown into jail for doing that, however, that’s acceptable driving behavior back in that little MA town.]]

You’ve bragged about saving money at The Christmas Tree Shop or Building 19.

You know what a “regular coffee” is. [[We were introduced to this on our first trip into a Dunkin Dounuts. We said sure, expecting that it would be plain, black coffee. Oh my it wasn’t and the clerk let us know that we were really stupid for not knowing what “regular coffee” was. Two lessons in one minute, wow]]

You’ve ordered a coffee frappe. [[ahh, a frappe, I could go for one of those ]]

You can navigate a rotary without a problem.

You use the words “wicked” and “good” in the same sentence.

You know that life is “a pissa”.

You drink tonic, but would never consider using it on your hair.

You never say “Cape Cod” you say “The Cape”.

You went to Old Sturbridge Village, Plymouth Plantation and Bunker Hill at least once in elementary school.

You’ve ridden on the Swan Boats.

You know the Mass Pike and 495 create some sort of strange weather dividing line. [[This is so TRUE!!]]

Thanks to May, I guess I do need to head up North for a little visit soon.