By Mitch Lee
It was snowing pretty heavily that late February day as my mother drove me to my monthly orthodontist appointment in Utica.
The road was covered with blowing white snow and traffic was slowed to a crawl.
My mother was holding her own as she navigated our grey 1980 Dodge Aspen utilizing her white-knuckle-swearing-under-her-breath technique.
We had taken so many trips to Utica in the past that up to this point the drive seemed to take no time at all.
But on this day it seemed a couple hundred miles further away.
I nervously pulled my coat zipper up and down when the wind blew so hard it obscured the road for a count of four or five seconds.
Luckily the drivers of the other cars and trucks that were headed South were also taking it slow and easy as we crept through the flashing light in Remsen.
Then, as if by magic, we suddenly drove out of the storm to a clean and open road and sun-filled sky.
The reflection of the sun on the snow was almost as blinding as the violent lake effect band we just drove through.
Nonetheless, appointments had to be kept so that my teeth could be wrenched back into place. (However there were days I would have forgiven my mother if she had begged off and said the weather was too bad to drive in.)
My mother’s taste in music was different than mine so the radio never pumped out any music that would get me psyched about my visits to the orthodonist.
A teenager needs some rock ‘n roll to prepare himself for a doctor’s hands and tools in his mouth while being told the pain was good for his smile.
I did like the old buildings along Genesee Street where many doctor’s offices were located.
They were large and refined with great big old doors and windows with thick oak interior trimwork.
There was a craftsmanship and detail to these buildings that I never got to see in the houses around Limekiln Lake.
Sitting in the waiting room was interesting as well as I watched thousands of cars pass by along the busy street.
I think I saw more cars traveling outside that waiting room window than I might see pass my own house in a whole year.
After the doctor pulled and tugged and refit my rubber bands to the erector set that had become a teen nightmare in my mouth, we had our mom and son time.
I helped my mother shop and catch up on errands as we circled the city hitting her favorite pit stops.
No trip was complete without a trip to Tehans, Kmart and the Riverside Mall food court for a snack.
Before long it was dusk and we were driving back to the woods leaving the lights of the city behind us.
These journeys prepared me for a lifetime of trips to Utica which seem so much closer now…even in a blinding snow storm.
Mitch Lee, Adirondack native & storyteller,
lives at Inlet. ltmitch3rdny@aol.com