Week Fifty-One: Jesse Sample’s Freak of the Week “Palmetto”

My sister ended up moving back to be with her high school sweetheart and she put down roots and had a baby. Since then, South Carolina and more specifically, Charleston has been a satellite for my family, more specifically, the women. My mother decided to ditch the NY winter and give South Carolina another chance and eventually moved back. I feel like this cycle has played out more than once. Aunt Tina too. My youngest sister has done the same and I know she has repeated this cycle more than twice. The rest of us come down and visit once or twice a year. I’ve been on family vacations with friends down here as well.

Everyone I know seems to be chasing an idea when they set up to come down here. Maybe they are looking for a great vacation or looking to avoid those NY winters or those NYS taxes, or perhaps they are chasing love. I enjoy the day to day of Colonie, NY, and the proximity and ability to walk in and around the heavy metal of the Erie Canal Locks in Cohoes and Waterford. The Hudson Valley is the most heartbreakingly beautiful place in the world in Late October and the winter up there is the perfect time and setting for me to examine the somber and deep trenches of my inner world. But South Carolina is friendly place, and I truly enjoy my time down here.