County Kids in the Big City

Last night after work Laura wanted me to go with her to a party in the Meatpacking District to celebrate her friend India's birthday. We both know India from college, but I also knew her from growing up in Shenandoah County. She grew up in Woodstock, but our moms had water aerobics classes together when we were kids. Anyway India lives in Brooklyn now too and she and her friends were out on the town in Manhattan to celebrate. By the time Laura and I got to Manhattan on the slow weekend subway service, they had ditched the bar where they had been and were heading to one of India's friends apartments nearby. We joined them on their way there and had a good time chatting and eating cookies. The company was very pleasant and the conversation good but the funniest part of the whole thing for me is that most of the people we met last night were from Woodstock. Most of them remember my mom as a fifth grade teacher or they knew my friends Sarah and Emily and we all had a good time talking about the County Fair. At first they were a little reserved about the fair. Some of them hadn't been for years and don't have the same deep-seated fondness as I do but after discussing the various wonders of the Shenandoah County Fair they all agreed that it was pretty magical and some even affirmed a desire to go back this year. I tried to drum up interest for an all-county happy hour sometime but the crowd seemed kind of lukewarm about the idea.