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I love living in a small town. (Well, most of it. But how many of you can say you like 100% about where you live?) Most everyone is so friendly, and connected. I like that feeling, that I am connected to a large part of the community. I didn't feel that way as I got older, when I lived in the city. When I was a kid, there was a sense of neighborhood and community. As I got older, and lived in apartments, that feeling wasn't there. I felt very anonymous.
See, here, you are always looking to see who you know, what they're doing, waving hello. Friends give me a hard time because I don't “do” vehicles-I don't recognize what people are driving a lot of the time. So when I'm driving, sometimes I don't wave because I don't know what their vehicle looks like. (Most newer vehicles all look the same to me.) And you better believe I hear about it the next time I see them!
When I go to visit family in the big city, I have to be reminded to stop making eye contact. So then when I go back to where I grew up to visit family, I'm still in that small-town mode of looking at people and smiling, saying hello. It kind of weirds people out, in the city. Try that, at your friendly, neighborhood big box store. You'll probably get escorted out. I KNOW you'll get funny looks!
Going to the store or the post office here is a social event. About half the county does not get mail delivered to their house or cluster box, they have to go to the post office to get their mail. Not by choice, but because the USPS won't deliver mail there, and requires you to have a po box at the post office in town. (But that’s another story...) It can take an hour or more, when you see someone you haven't talked to in a while, and chat to catch up.
See, here, you are always looking to see who you know, what they're doing, waving hello. Friends give me a hard time because I don't “do” vehicles-I don't recognize what people are driving a lot of the time. So when I'm driving, sometimes I don't wave because I don't know what their vehicle looks like. (Most newer vehicles all look the same to me.) And you better believe I hear about it the next time I see them!
When I go to visit family in the big city, I have to be reminded to stop making eye contact. So then when I go back to where I grew up to visit family, I'm still in that small-town mode of looking at people and smiling, saying hello. It kind of weirds people out, in the city. Try that, at your friendly, neighborhood big box store. You'll probably get escorted out. I KNOW you'll get funny looks!
Going to the store or the post office here is a social event. About half the county does not get mail delivered to their house or cluster box, they have to go to the post office to get their mail. Not by choice, but because the USPS won't deliver mail there, and requires you to have a po box at the post office in town. (But that’s another story...) It can take an hour or more, when you see someone you haven't talked to in a while, and chat to catch up.