This morning I read a post by Meritt about living in a small town. Once upon a time I considered a town the size of hers as "small" but these days I consider her town to be decent sized. Anyway, I have a small town story of my own to share...
Our town is so small (~600 people) that every 5 years they have a homecoming. And to be honest, I'm not really sure why. The last homecoming was in 2004 and I was sad to miss the festivities but was glad to be celebrating the 60th wedding anniversary of Ryan's grandparents with the whole big family. Anyway, the homecoming is a big deal around here so prior to the event was like a spring cleaning for the community. People were re-painting their houses, fixing up sidewalks, etc. I found it entertaining that they were trying to show off for those who would be coming home. But maybe its more than that, maybe its that the community takes pride in their town, in themselves and wanted to put on their "sunday best".
What was really cute was that my parents had recently moved to town. And everyone knew that the new people were from California, were living in the Reir's house, and were Dr. Ryan's in-laws. So, a day or two before the homecoming event we were at my moms house visiting. It was a beautiful summer day and the windows were wide open. As we were chatting in the house, people were enjoying a leisurely walk. Two older couples were walking by and as they past my mom's house, they paused and one couple pointed to the house and told the visiting couple "... and this is where Dr. Ryan's inlaws live". No more did they finish the sentence and they were on their way again. It was too funny.
Four years later, there are probably many community members that still only know my parents as "Dr. Ryan's inlaws".
2 comments:
Ahhh life in a small town. :)
Yeah, my town really truly isn't 'small' anymore as they are currently in the process of being gobbled up by the city next door.
It was only about 5-6 years ago they blacktopped the main cross road in town. LOL. Now? SWARMS of people moving in from the 'city'. Growth has doubled (DOUBLED) in the last 5 years.
They don't quite know what to do with themselves.
But realistically, my husband grew up in a town of about 800 people and we would never move the kids to one that small - so this size is currently 'ok' but we'd like to get to one much bigger. We really love the anonymity of a 'small city' verses Mayberries. :)
And I thought Kingsburg was small - although I would say Kingsburg doesn't feel like a small town as much anymore now that I have moved back and have been out of touch and don't know all of the new people and their stories. What a funny story!
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