“Yo! Got a question for you.”
He was a few barstools down from Abby typing into his phone and didn’t look up. So I tried again, a little more direct.
“Hey you! With the plaid shirt!”
This time he looked up and made eye contact.
“You watch Euphoria?”
“Nah. I don’t watch TV.”
“Copy. Well, for what it’s worth, you look like a badass mother fucker character from that show. The kind of guy who cuts people’s fingers off and shit.”
“Oh yeah! They used to say that about my dad.”
And that’s how we got into an hourlong conversation about the great state of Vermont while perched up at The Orange Rind, a tiki bar along the Passumpsic River.
After we bonded on our shared Abruzzo heritage, my new friend dropped some local knowledge. He shared were to find the secret swimming hole tucked behind the (sorry, can’t say), and a laundry list of places to visit along the Canadian border that I couldn’t keep up. Then he dropped some knowledge.
“Did you know that Vermont has fifteen border crossings with Canada? And it’s only got ninety miles of border. That’s literally a border crossing every six miles. Think about that. If you compare it to any other state, it’s the most by a long shot.”
I thought about the experience we had just had in New York. We stayed on the east side of Seneca Lake for a month and it took us a week to find a place to take our dogs swimming. There’s nearly no public access for the New York Finger Lakes.
The place we did finally find was a boat launch. The boys loved playing fetch there, but, it wasn’t exactly a beach.
We rolled into Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom on a Wednesday, and by Thursday afternoon, all four of us were enjoying the south end beach at Lake Willoughby. It’s a glacier lake, just like the Fingers. Not only was it public. It was clothing optional.
With all that in mind, I replied, “Whatever decisions these states made 250 years ago, it’s still reverberating through to today.”
“Yeah,” he said. “And Vermont’s the fourteenth state.”
That’s when it hit me. That this 250th birthday we’re about to celebrate for our nation, is 250 years for 13 states.
After pausing for a moment, I laughed, and said, “Vermont is like a great band’s second album. They learned a few things.”
I have to be honest and say, I just haven’t been thinking about how young our country is. Vermont, by comparison to the original 13, is 235 years old.
When my grandfather was born in 1898, there were 45 states in the Union. He was between nine and fourteen years old when Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona joined the Union, and in his 60s when Alaska and Hawaii joined.
I mean, my own parents were born to a country of 48 states.
That kinda blows my mind.
If you’re a history buff, or, just paid attention in history class, feel free to make fun of me (and correct me if I’m wrong).
This all seems so funny to me, thinking about people in Arizona throwing a huge party on the Fourth of July with flags flying, proudly showing the 250 years.
I mean, we’re all related, right?
But that’d be like me throwing a HUGE birthday party for my sister in Kansas from my backyard in North Carolina. She’s nine years older than me, lives halfway across the country, and we’re siblings. I’ll call her up on her birthday.
She came out to Raleigh for my 50th a few years back.
We celebrate. But, not for each other.
For the record, Arizona turned 114 years old this past Valentine’s day. Isn’t that sweet.
Our country is just so young. And we have a lot of growing up to do.
Having been born in New Jersey, and then spent the last three decades in North Carolina, I’m recognizing something in the water here in Vermont that’s different from the original thirteen.
And the difference between having just stayed a month in New York is eye opening.
Tomorrow we celebrate 250 years for thirteen states.
Happy Birthday America!
DiMeo Unfiltered is my back of the napkin publication featuring half-baked concepts, works in progress, blog-like posts, and personal opinions. This space is raw, authentic, and self-published.
Thank you for reading.
Health, happiness, kindness, respect
for every being and all things.
— Andrew
Just returned from our great country. We should cherish and protect it, for all the flaws, only here the pathways to improve are clearer and free-er.