I love being able to say the phrase “back East”. I use it to describe where we were born and have lived the majority of our lives. When we first moved to Chicago I heard Bea Arthur use the term describing her first appearance as Maude on “All In The Family”. “I went to cousin Edith’s home, back East, where they were all sick as hell and had no one to take care of them…”. Of course, Archie and Edith Bunker lived in Queens and Maude lived in Tuckahoe, so I don’t know why Bea mentioned the character going “back East” but she did and the term stuck with me once we moved to the midwest and then when we moved to the desert southwest.
“Where are you originally from?”
I start with “back East” and then narrow it down to the region then the city then a smaller city then the small village when describing “back East”, depending on how invested I am in the conversation.
I bring all this up because on Wednesday my husband and I are headed “back East” to visit family on all side of the family tree. We haven’t been to his hometown since well before COVID and it’s been over a year since we’ve visited any of my family in snowy Upstate New York.
I’m thinking about my wardrobe here in the desert southwest and I’m realizing I don’t have that much in the way of cold weather clothing anymore, but I suppose I’ll make do with what I have.
Gotta dress for the snow when you head “back East”.
