Come As You Are

Recently, we moved from the eastern edge of South Dakota to the western edge of Washington.  This 1,600 mile leap is confusing to everyone, apparently.

First, there are those who get mixed up between Washington state and Washington, DC.  While I would love to visit DC some day, I am quite positive I don’t ever want to live there.  The Pacific Northwest is much more my style.  The whole region, even its large cities (I’m looking at you, Portland and Seattle), is more laid back than the rest of the country.  What passes for business casual dress in other parts of the country is practically formal here.  I was wearing a pair of fold-down Xtratuf boots the other day (who are we kidding, it’s rainy season here, I wear them every day), and made the comment that I looked like a hobo (that may have had to do with the shorts, ratty t-shirt, and hand-knit stocking cap I was sporting with them).  I was quickly told that I looked like a local, and that the boots were called “Grays Harbor sneakers” (I have since seen them called “Alaska sneakers” and sneakers of various other locations in the region).

Second, we moved to a city named Aberdeen.  If you live anywhere near eastern South Dakota, you’ll know why this is confusing.  When I say it takes 24 hours to drive from Sioux Falls to Aberdeen, people in South Dakota look at me like I’m bonkers.  I’m blaming the Scots.  They named a city for the mouth of the river Don “Aberdon”, which eventually morphed into Aberdeen, and roughly means “the confluence of waters”.  Apparently settlers in the US (and around the world, see here: https://us.geotargit.com/called.php?qcity=Aberdeen) weren’t super creative, so everywhere there are a couple of rivers that crash together, they named the city Aberdeen.

Finally, people here react to hearing that we are recent transplants with “Really?  Aberdeen?  On purpose?”  If the PNW is the laid-back, “weird is good” portion of the country, then Aberdeen is the poster child of “weird” for the region.  Kurt Cobain of Nirvana was born and grew up here, and their lyric “Come As You Are” has been adopted as an informal motto.  I’ve never been anywhere that embraced this quite so thoroughly.  It’s a blue collar town, not a hugely diverse population, and unsurprisingly conservative.  What makes it strange is that everyone has a “do your own thing” attitude.  Now, I have some…unconventional hair.  It’s shaved on the sides and back, and the top gets styled anywhere from a spiky mohawk to a bunch of haphazard curls standing straight up like some sort of Dr. Seuss landscape.  Oh, and I have it dyed bright colors every few weeks.  I get so many compliments on my hair here from people that I would never expect to even speak to me.  Big burly lumberjacks, grannies with a shock of white hair and a quilted purse, soccer moms confessing they wish they could do the same.  All of them friendly and happy to chat with me.

By User:Surachit, Paul Fritts (uploaded by ChrisB) – Image:Welcome to Aberdeen.jpg, Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1597856

That’s what I love about this place.  Everyone is doing their own thing and no one gets too worked up about it.  A few years ago, around this time, I posted a Facebook status about walking and knitting in Sioux Falls.  People who hadn’t even seen the post told me they saw me, or they knew someone who had.  “My friend said she saw someone walking and knitting and wearing shorts!  I knew it was you!”  Those folks would have a heyday here.  In the past week or two alone, I have seen:

• A transient pushing a shopping cart filled with drums.  A whole youth-sized trap set, if my former drummer’s memory serves.
• A wanna-be pimp decked out in a deep purple leisure suit, replete with oversized purple hat.
• My neighbor climbing into her 64-gallon wheeled trash bin to stomp it down so she could fit in another bag or two

I have found that the locals respond to any odd behavior or events with a simple shrug and saying “Well, it IS Aberdeen.”  As though that is explanation enough.  And it turns out, it is.  I’m the crazy lady who fits right in.

[Side note, I frequently post social media statuses wherein I refer to my fellow members of the population.  Since moving to Aberdeen, I have struggled with how to refer to the collective lot of us.  Aberdeenians?  Aberdeeners?  Aberdenites?  My research into the history of the name of the town revealed that the term is Aberdonians, from the original Aberdon.  Given the oddity of myself and many of the locals, I think I’ll stick with my personal favorite: Aberrations.]