Ode to Michigan

As of this week, I've lived in southeastern Michigan for six years -- making it the longest I've ever lived anywhere at one time. (Well, there was that six-month jaunt in western Michigan, but I drove east most weekends anyway, so it doesn't count.)

In honor of my six-year anniversary as a Michiganian, here are the top five weirdest things about this state that everyone who grew up here thinks of as completely normal.

• Everyone and their brother, mother, father, aunt, uncle and dog has "a cabin up north." Um...OK. Where I come from, anyone who has a second vacation home has the cash flow of Puff Daddy. But when I went to a couple of those "cabins up north," I realized that the word "cabin" is relative. Most of them are trailers parked in the middle of the woods.
  
• The word pop is not a nickname for daddy or a blow to the head. Nope...it's a fizzy drink. (??)
  
• Everyone, except me, drives an American car because of their connection to the industry. (To make matters worse, my car is Korean. I'm real popular around here, let me tell you.)
  
• No one will believe that they have an accent -- or should I say "aeeeeeeeehh-ccent." They all think the Michigan accent is "neutral." Ha! (Then again, I should talk. I have no idea what kind of annoying lilt I've picked up over the years.)
  
• Two much-hyped beers that I will never, ever understand: Bell's Oberon and Labatt Blue. Yuck.
  

Sometimes, I feel like I've been here so long that I may as well have been born and raised here. I've even gotten to the phase where I point to the bottom-right of my hand when someone asks where I live. But...pop? Never.