McDonald's Pies

Somewhere north of where you are - Back home in the Maritimes of Canada you find little income in the form of money, just scattered old fishing towns and sturdy homes with multiple layers of paint.

Despite having just barely enough to put food on the table, Maritimers are some of the wealthiest people I have ever met. Descendants mostly of Scottish and Irish settlers, they still have that thick witty twang which slightly resembles a good ole Irish brogue.

Clothing is hung out on lines, worn, yet presentable. The young ladies style their hair and look their best, while many of their finer young men venture "West' in search of paychecks to send home. 

Success has more to do with muscle, guts, and luck rather than formal education.

Children still play outside in the reddish clay dirt near fragments of dilapidated lobster pots, while the occasional deer out of season wonders safely by. (Many families eat moose, venison, and bear to make it through the dark winters.)

Yet despite adversity and hardship, I find these folks happier than most.  On average they live longer than most Americans (according to Maclean's magazine), although working and drinking harder, never too far from a pack of 'smokes' and paper cup of 'Timmy's' hot coffee.  They consistently do the same things that usually kill their friends south of the boarder.  A paradox that has been the center of my studies and wonder in recent years.  (It's an ongoing study, but don't tell too many about my early findings... just keep it between you and I... I'd hate to see too many people from Massachusetts find out about this special part of the world for fear they'd find a way to ruin or put a tax on it.)   

I have many young 'girlfriends,' some still in their late teens, just about my daughters age... There's a shortage of 'available' young men around so I try to 'flirt' with these youngsters as often as possible, always coming away with a precious memory and smile... it's an innocent gesture that would be misinterpreted back in the United States. Flirting with girls well over half my age could possible land me in a court of law back where I grew up, here it's merely a flattering form of banter, girls practicing charm for their real boyfriends, the ones out West. 

Long carefully combed brown hair, pinned back, a bleached patterned spring dress, eyes ocean blue, all smiles and hard work, the type that never complains as she sits there quietly earning her daily crust of bread... polite manners and gravel in her gut, her dull normal type of existence would torture most, but young Mary is not like most, she's a Maritime gal.

"How's young Mary today?" I asked.

"Just fine, you?" was her polite reply.  

"Good... did you do anything good this weekend?"

"Well, I'll tell ya," she perked up, "me and my dad don't usually come into McDonald's... usually can't afford it these days... but we said 'hey, what the hell, we're here'... had some spare change... one of my friends kept telling me about those little warm pies... so there ya go... just had to see what she was goin' on about," she giggled, pretending to hold a little warm pie cradled in close, "splurged and got two of the apple ones... had mine already finished before we even left the parking lot... it was sooo good... talked dad into heading back for another... 'take me back or I'll eat yours before we get home!' ... Can you imagine?  He just looked at me as if I'd lost my mind... but I'm not kiddin', they were that good!  Told me he'd rather drive me over to the Aberdeen (a nearby hospital) instead...  Honest to God, I could just put on the old feed bag, sit their and eat their pies all day!"  And then she just burst out laughing, her little colorful cheeks and clear blue eyes her biggest features, not much else to her-  the poor thing was so tiny, and I couldn't help but laugh hysterically with her, both of us suddenly beside ourselves, a seemingly endless laughing fit in the midst of hunger and hard work, just one thin paycheck away from desperation. 

A little pie, and as they say, "times are good."  God bless her!

Press play below and listen to what another Nova Scotia 'Maritime Gal' has to say...