Little Town

Over the years we've downsized just a bit.  From living in a city with a population of roughly 1.3 million residents within a 50 mile radius, to a city with a population just shy of 50,000, to a village with a population of about 42.  You might think we're nuts. There was a time we pondered that possibility. Now, we know for a fact insanity is not our problem. Okay, you might still think we're nuts, but we don't and that's all that matters.

Since we live just outside of town, we rarely see the other 42 of our closest neighbors.  Good thing I like my husband.  Better yet I like the privacy, best of all we love the countryside.

What we are delighting in is the sense of community and camaraderie we have found in our little town. It's like an onion (assuming you like onions), layer upon layer to be unpeeled over the seasons. 

A year ago, we'd been here for 9 months and hardly knew a soul. Speculation was we were members of the witness protection program. Now we know most everyone, and we're slightly less suspect. We've been to the town bbq/street dance, July 4th picnic, golf tournament, glow ball tournament, hog butchering, the local cemetery and a progressive dinner.  In no specific order. There is a men's group and a women's group.  This might be heaven.

Alright, I heard you snicker at that last comment.  Life is what you make of it. It is not the size of the city that makes you belong.  It is the investment you make in it.  

So on this Independence Day we celebrate our country, and our "country".   We do this with fireworks in the sky, in our hearts and gratitude for our little town.