Friday, October 20, 2017

Small Town USA


I was raised in the middle of nowhere.  About 3 miles southwest of North Branch, Michigan (google it.)  This is downtown North Branch two  Saturdays' ago at about 1:30 in the afternoon.  Kind of quiet, eh? Lot of easy parking. 

I opened my first checking account in the bank, back when it was Pioneer State Bank.  I was 15, I didn't have a drivers license, but I had a checking account.  For the first year, the account didn't have an account number, none of the banks accounts did.  The Federal Reserve forced the bank to start using account numbers, under threat that the Fed wouldn't processing checks if they didn't.  I remember the letter from the bank, explaining that we would always be a person, not a number to them.  

I fled North Branch shortly after I finished High School.  There was nothing to keep me there.  I really don't understand why most of the people that stayed, stayed.  Origin is not destiny.  But then maybe I am the one who has failed to put down roots.  Despite the easy parking, I can't imagine living there at this point in life. 

What is your hometown like? 

6 comments:

  1. “Despite the easy parking”... I love that statement. I’ve never been a ‘stayer’ either. When I would visit my mother in Brooklyn I was always surprised by how many of my peers kept their parents’ apartments.

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  2. Well I grew up in the Campbell Harrisburg area so there was always lots going on, and we were close enough to Philly. Harrisburg is actually more culturally diverse than most would think.

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  3. philly is a BIG CITY; I left it for washington DC 1977-1999 (hated it); glad I returned to my roots! I have heard it said that 77% of the people that leave philly always return.

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  4. Laurel, Md., midway between D.C. and Baltimore, famous for its horse tracks, George Wallace shooting (I was there!) and the 9/11 bombers spent a few nights in a motel there.

    Was a 'cow town' when I was growing up, you could drive 5 miles out of town in any direction, and be in the woods...we had a lot of fun as kids.

    Now *everything* between D.C. and Balto is developed and overpopulated...kind of sucks.

    :-)

    -Andy

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  5. My hometown, Roanoke, is a little larger than North Branch. However it holds nothing for me other than some childhood memories and my first love. I never fit there and didn’t realize that fully until I left. I am most definately a Southern Californian at heart and San Diego is my home.

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