1. No, it's not anywhere near Boston.
2. But we still say "wicked."
3. Yes, the river that runs through us is the Connecticut River.
4. No one does fall better than us. Sorry, every other part of Massachusetts.
5. Calling it "Western Mass" and not "Western Massachusetts."
6. Having only two temperatures: humid-as-hell hot and bone-chilling cold.
7. We'll all remember the 2011 October Snow Storm that rocked Western Mass and left so many of us without power.
8. Two words: Dunkin. Donuts.
9. It isn't the holidays without a trip to Bright Nights.
10. Or a visit to Yankee Candle Village.
11. There's no audible "h" in Amherst.
12. Going on a school field trip to Sturbridge Village.
13. "Don't the police have anything better to do?"
14. Losing your shit when you heard Faces in Northampton was shutting down.
15. Breathing a huge sigh of relief when you found out Faces was going to be okay.
16. Never actually going inside the Basketball Hall of Fame. Only visiting for the restaurants.
17. The wonderful experience that is the Big E!
18. The fresh hell that is Big E traffic.
19. "Back in my day, Six Flags New England was called Riverside."
20. If it's more than 20 minutes away, it's too far.
21. Driving through Hartford!!!!!!!!!!!!!
22. You can name a handful of people who go to the "5 Colleges."
23. Whether it was a wedding, bar mitzvah, birthday, or banquet: You've been to Chez Josef.
24. #TBT: 2004 Red Sox World Series. Good Times.
25. That forest-y thing behind your house? You probably call it a "dingle" and not a "ravine."
26. Having a zip code that starts with a 0.
27. Ordering iced coffee in the dead of winter.
28. Accepting the fact that we're not the Springfield from The Simpsons.
29. Screaming “Dr. Seuss is from Western Mass!!!!!!!” at anyone who will listen.
30. Spending a summer night at Tanglewood.
31. Being a drive away from two of the biggest cities in the Northeast, a drive away from the beaches of Connecticut, and a drive away from the ski resorts of New England.
Now, c'mon. Let's go get a Fribble.
Update 9/25 1:30 PM: "Ice" has been changed to "snow."