Country life
10/10/2008

October 10, 2008

Country life

Every time Micheal and I come to work on our property in Washington I get lessons in country living.  I’m quite sure I’m entertainment for our rural neighbors and the good townspeople of Twisp, the nearest community.  “Here comes the blonde from California with her fancy cowboy boots and her turquoise cowboy hat who doesn’t know which side of the horse to get up on.” 

 I don’t mind being a source of amusement because people here strike me as generally tolerant of each other’s quirks and idiosyncrasies.  I guess they have to be.  It’s a small enough community that they all need each other; or at least, they’re sure as heck going to keep running into each other.  It creates incentive to get along.

I’ve lived in the South, where people will say something absolutely obliterating to another person’s character, followed by a completely unconvincing, “Bless her heart,” which I suppose is meant to relieve them of the guilt of gossiping.  Here’s an example:   

“She’s a skanky piece of trash who’d sleep with her own daughter’s boyfriend, bless her heart.”

People in rural Washington don’t do that. 

They might speak their mind about a neighbor so that you get an idea of her shortcomings, but in a way that does seem to avoid passing judgment.  After all, everyone has shortcomings.  So, describing the difficulty of getting a hold of a neighbor you might hear, “He never answers the phone, his answering machine is always full, he doesn’t have a cell phone and doesn’t respond to email.”  Listeners will chuckle and say, “Yep, that sounds like Bob.”

Or, “He got drunk in town last Saturday and rolled his car in the ditch, but his dog made it home and fetched his wife, who called the sheriff.  Old Henry spent the night in jail, but was back at work Monday morning.”

“Yep, that sounds like Henry.”

I like that people enjoy their neighbors’ more colorful behavior patterns.  Rural life would be mighty boring if conformity was the religion. 

I like, too, that one of the most colorful things about my neighbors is their speech.  People take a certain pride in surprising turns of phrase.

About the value of land: “They’re not making any more of it.”

About having one’s wishes overlooked: “She’s tired of sucking hind tit.”

About tonight’s menu, which has no specials: “Tonight, everything on the menu is special.”

About getting older: “Honey, it’s better to be a year older than a month late.”

I find myself easily overlooking some folks’ opinions because I’m so charmed by the way they’re phrased.  I’m hoping that my neighbors will find the same true of me.