I Know You!

by Brendan Smith
Weirs Times Editor

After nearly thirty-four years of living in New Hampshire, I sometimes forget that I’m not originally from here, but as the summer season rolls around it all comes back to me.
As some of you may know, I was born and raised on Long Island, New York. I was, and still am, what natives here call a “Flatlander.”
When I first started these columns twenty-four years ago, they were all about being a Flatlander and adjusting to life here in Central New Hampshire. Believe me, I had plenty of experiences to share. It took me a lot of getting used to.
I don’t talk about that too much anymore, the longer I lived here the more I became acclimated and I have found other things to make fun of and sometimes forget my roots. But then summertime rolls around and the people from my homeland begin to filter in to start their vacations here in the beautiful Lakes Region and, once again, I remember where I once was and how I used to be.
It took me awhile to break away from those survival techniques that were inherited from growing up in a city or suburban atmosphere and I see and sympathize, to a certain extent, when I see it in droves here in the summer.
So, at the peril of offending some of those who are here to enjoy a refreshing week’s vacation, I realize that it is almost impossible to change years of important survival habits in a few days, but I have some suggestions anyway.
First off, when you arrive and go to the supermarket to fill up for your week’s stay at your beautiful lakefront abode, take an extra couple of seconds to put your shopping cart in the corral. It really won’t hurt and you’ll still get to your place of relaxation with plenty of time to spare. And, if it matters, you free up some parking spaces for others just like you who are also arriving. (This suggestion also goes out to a lot of you natives and long-time residents.)
My next suggestion, and this is a big one. After you arrive here and you are settled in and ready to relax…then actually RELAX!
Cutting people off in traffic, rushing to beat that next person to the supermarket checkout, getting short with the waitstaff because you are in a hurry to get your check so you can rush to your next relaxing thing, are all counter productive. You might actually be more tired at the end of the week than when you started.
I understand it all. I was there once. I spent hours stuck in traffic on the Long Island Expressway. I cursed those who had eleven items at the ten items or less checkout at Waldbaum’s. I know it will be hard, after all, it took me years to shake these things off myself.
But here is something to consider. More and more people, Flatlanders like myself, have moved and settled to New Hampshire over the years. More and more of the “natives in their own minds” that you interact with are really “us.”
We were once you.
So, when you see the guy with the New Hampshire plates in front of you, moseying down the road or the lady holding up the checkout line chatting with the clerk about the weather or even the waitress, possibly a teacher on summer hiatus, who does her best to smile back at you though her old New York instincts push her otherwise, just remember; they may have been you at one time.
The odds are really good that they’ve been where you are, lived where you lived, felt the stress and took a big chance moving to that place where the pace was a little slower, money was a little tighter and attitude can’t get you a ham sandwich.
They’ve got your number.
I know it will be hard, and I understand. Still, the next time you are speeding past that slow car with New Hampshire plates to get to your next destination, see if you can catch a glimpse of the driver. You just might remember them travelling next to you at a snail’s pace in a traffic jam on the Long Island Expressway a few years ago.
So, now that you are here relax…and have fun.
Happy to have you here.

Brendan Smith is the author of “The Flatlander Chronicles” and “The Best Of A F.O.O.L. In New Hampshire” available at his website www.BrendanTSmith.com

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