Welcome to Valley Cottage

Last weekend as I drove down the thruway a special feeling hit my heart when I crossed into Rockland County. Despite some of the horrific experiences I may have had while attending the Nyack Public Schools, there were some real good memories too.

I am the whitest Puerto Rican you will ever meet and I blame that on growing up in a town named Valley Cottage. There was a creek in my back yard although some will argue it belonged to the people that lived behind me, regardless I still played in it. There was a farm in the middle of town owned by the local mafia aka Italian family who controlled all things transportation to the local schools. There were kids riding on bicycles everywhere. And a town reservoir people illegally swam in. My Puerto Rican self didn't stand a chance. Oh my parents raised me Jewish, that would be the nail in the coffin. At this point I am legally obligated to admit that I am in fact only half Puert Rican via my mom, but my other half is Eastern European mutt via my dad.

The Nappi's. It was at their house I discovered my first love, black labs. Their dog Beauty had just had a litter of puppies on Valentine's Day circa 1986. One of them was all black with a patch of white fur on her chest in the shape of a heart. They named her Valentine and decided to keep her while the other pups were adopted out. It made it in the Rockland Journal News (that's our NY Times). Charlotte, the matriarch, babysat my older brother then later on babysat yours truly. Some of my happiest memories from childhood were from that home and playing with those dogs. Christmas time Charlotte transformed her living room and dining room into a winter wonder land with tables full of small village figurines. For a child it was magical. Her kids, Scott who was my brother's age and Faith who was two years older than the boys, were like siblings to me. I wanted to be so much like Faith who was easily the prettiest and coolest girl I knew. Naturally six year old Laura had a crush on twelve year old Scott. Ah, in warmer weather there was the pool which of course I peed in on a regular basis. Sadly the pool is now gone, but thankfully my bladder control issues are in check these days.

Valley Cottage Elementary Morning Program. Us kids from VCE were entertained by the school nurse EVERY morning in teh caefeteria/gym for the thirty minutes before school started while teachers got their coffee and classes ready. It may sound lame, but it was far from it! VCE had a theme song for each day of the week, I am proud to say I still know them all. "Did you ever think much about Thursday as being your favorite day? I bet you never thought much about Thursday as being your favorite day. Cause Thursday is next to Friday and Friday is next to Saturday. And Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday is my favorite day". Wow, now that I think about it I am thirty years old and still singing these songs. Perhaps proud wasn't the right word, maybe ashamed or embaressed better suits this situation. Also I would like to apologize to Thursday that no one loves you, it's true no one loves Thursdays, and because of this Thursday had to ride on the coat tails of Saturday which EVERYONE loves.

Adventures at summer camp. Pine Brook Day Camp was located in Tallman, NY right on the NY/NJ border. 75% of the camp's population came from NJ. Were the NJ Day Camps that lame? Obviously! My dad worked at Pine Brook so my brother and I got to go for free. There was a man made lake where in three short years I learned to master the back float. It was on that day that the entire water staff applauded me. Don't judge, back floats are very tricky. Pine Brook had a nature hut with live animals and once a summer we made ice cream from scratch (I think they actually milked the goat too). There was a special section for the pre-school aged kids called Jack and Jill; like a daycare inside of the camp. We had color war the seventh week of camp where we all divided into half: Red vs White, Jack and Jill campers were pink. Color war always had a cool theme like Jetson's vs the Flintstones or Communism vs Democracy. And at the end of every day we had ice cream up on the hill. Unfortunately the BEST CAMP EVER, fact not just opinion, closed down due to severe flooding. The repairs were just too much for the owners to take on. Hasidic Jews bought the campgrounds and then ran their own camp. I know what you're thinking, Hasidic Jews do Day Camp? I'm just as surprised as you, but good for them. After Pine Brook I attended then worked at several other camps, none ever quite like Pine Brook though. Candy Mountain aka haven for rich mostly Jewish kids, Camp Addison Boyce where you paid to swim in a lake and pee in a hole in the ground they call a latrine, Deer Mountain Day Camp aka another haven for rich mostly Jewish kids; and Rockland Center for the Arts. (The only good think that came out of Camp Candy Mountain was meeting the lovely Tamara and Tiffany Clark)

Rockland Center For The Arts Finally a place made for me. No sports! For those of you sports fans out there, let me explain. Gym class was torture enough during the school year and I strongly feel my summer should be full of fun things I actually LIKE to do. Additionally I am so uncoordinated I can barely walk for five minutes with tripping. RCFTA (hey it's a long name to keep typing out) had puppet making, dance, 2-D Arts and Crafts, 3-D Arts and Crafts, movie making, drama, ceramics. While certain instructors loved my enthusiasm, others had to politely remind me to help the campers with their projects as opposed to doing the projects for myself. RCFTA is where I met some of the craziest, funniest, incredible people of my life: Sue, Amy, Alley, Brian, and Tim. Amy now runs the place. I also scored two sweet babysitting gigs for kids I adored. Sam, thank you for never making fun of me no matter how badly I sucked at the video games me played. Treating you to ice cream every day probably didn't hurt. Alex, Lissette, and Vincent (I list them in age order, not order of importance) thank you for introducing me to the wonderful world of Rug Rats which I still sometimes watch as an adult. Bless Liseette's heart when she asked me to still babysit every Thursday night while I was two hours away at college.

Temple Beth Torah, as previously mentioned I was raised Jewish. While I did not like attending "regular school" I loved Hebrew School. I met kids from other school districts, okay Clarkstown South,(Dustin B, Erica R, and Sheryl L) and learned how to be a Jew. For those who didn't know us Jews go to school to learn the day to day living of being a Jew. Oh and we learn Hebrew, this I did not like so much. At twelve years old I started working part time for the school; the best part working with the sarcastic British secretary Donna. For secretary's day she said in her sarcsatic British voice to no one in particular, "Thanks for the beautiful bouquet instead of a raise for the crap I put up with around here." And the Jews really know how to throw down for a holiday: Sukkot, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippor, Purim, and Passover. Okay okay I know what you're all thinking and yes yes CHANUKKAH. For you Christian/non Jewish folks Chanukkah is not the ONLY Jewish holiday or even the most important holiday. It ranks on the same levels of Arbor Day. Sorry Arbor Day, I am sure someone somewhere is off hugging a tree in your honor. As a side note I would like to thank the public schools for allowing one Chanukkah song each holiday concert so we don't feel left out. Of course they rotate the same three songs over and over again so by the time I'm fifteen I'm so over dreidle dreidle dreidle.

Girl Scouts or when we felt we were too cool and too old to be Girl Scouts, The GS Club. For my brief stint in the GS Club, 10 years to be exact, there were some fine moments. One such highlight was our Christmas Caroling Adventure around my neighborhood. When we reached one particular house the residents shut off their lights immediatly after we rang the doorbell. As most of us acepted defeat and began to walk away, the fabulous Melanie Russell shouted "We know you're in there and we're going to sing anyways!" What can I say, Melanie really loved to sing so damn anyone who cheated her of an opportunity. We seranaded someone's front door for three songs. And how can you mention GS Club without talking about cookies? Selling GS cookies is actually pretty cut throat especially when you live in a neighborhood that has approximately one GS per every four houses. Most people bought on a first come first serve basis which is fair, some only bought from the cuter and younger kids (this is where looking 1/2 my age always helped), and then you had the rare gem like Mrs. Hallinan who bought four boxes from EVERYONE. Woman loved her cookies. The vast majority of my sales came from my mom's co-workers, she worked at in the Bronx where Girl Scouts were in short supply as were the cookies. Listen it's not cheating, ALL parents bring their kids fundraising crap into their jobs. To be fair my dad brought my Hebrew School fundraiser to his work. I properly utilized both of my parents because I love them the same. I digress. Other fun moments in the GS Club including working on my Gold Award with Luisa Alberto and Melanie Russell, sleeping on a Submarine, sleeping in a couple of musuems in NYC where I disected a cow's eye, Orienteering Weekend, sewing Christmas Ornaments (mine were the ones falling apart. It's not that I didn't care, I'm just not good with needles much like Sleeping Beauty), and working with adults with disabilities.


Last weekend I leaned against my car as I looked at my childhood home. Someone else lives there now and to be fair I live somewhere else now too. The tree in the front was missing, the one all the neighborhood boys used to climb as I watched from bedroom window like some creepy stalker....well if it was my tree on my lawn was I really a creepy stalker? Feel free to decide for yourself. And looking at the house I realized a part of me will always belong here.