So mom and I went to Windham, New York on a bus trip organized by the Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Albany, mostly because we hadn't been on a bus trip in a while and also because we thought it would be fun. Mom called the JCC and paid the fee, and a few days later Hurricane Irene devistated Windham where roads were taken out, homes were lost and The Country Store, the place we were going to visit http://catskillmtncountrystore.com was completely destroyed. A few days later Clair from the JCC called to say that the trip was cancelled and how did we want our money back or could we use it on another trip. Mom wisely asked for some time to think about it and a week or so later Clair called again to say that the trip was on, the Country Store was back up and running and see you on Monday October 17th a little after 10am. So the trip was a go...then on September 8th I was not paying attention to where I was walking and I fell, landing on both hands, spraining both wrists, hurting both elbows and shoulders. After three days of denial about how much it hurt and how long it was going to take to heal, the trip once again entered my mind, would I be well enought to travel. I was on the couch watching TV, bored to tears and hoping that I could someday hold a ball, let alone travel. But, as with all things that I put my mind to, I was able to get well enough to hoist myself on the bus. The day began as most do these days, get ready, a little rest, get ready some more, rest a little. So we get to the JCC, hop on the bus and begin our travelling. It was all quite uneventful until the bus went by the Country Store and we had to turn around. Our bus driver Jim stopped, backed into a hilly driveway and promptly got stuck. We all then were waiting for a tow truck that had to be hired to ascend the Windham mountain from Cairo, NY and pull us a few feet, at $300.00 mind you so we could get lunch and shop at the Country Store. An hour passed and we were freed. Lunch was good enough and the store had a few cute mugs to purchase with their logo on them, but the thing I remember about Windham was how everyone was toward each other. From the people who stopped to ask if we needed help, to the gentleman wearing a Greene County Firemen's Convention sweatshirt to the friendly "Barney Fife" Windham Police Officer. They were also very kind and patient with one another, nothing seemed to upset them, and they seemed genuinely happy to help us and happy we were there. The owner of the Country Store even took a 2 minute ride to see us stuck on the hill and helped direct traffic. All in all a good day, and on the way down the Windham mountain we even got stuck again, this time by someone trying to deliver a storage container to a store, but we all had experience in this so we were much kinder to that person than I think we would have been had we not gotten stuck blocking traffic earlier ourselves.
