I've been thinking lately that I would love to try living in a small town some day. By small town, I mean a town with only one or two commercial centers, grocery stores, high schools, a hand full of churches, and only one of any particular restaurant or store.
I suppose I want to live in a small town because I am tired of going to the same stores or restaurants every week and never seeing a familiar face. I'm tried of sitting behind a long line of cars on a congested street that is slowly being widened, though years too late. I'm tired of having to drive like I'm in a hurry, just because every one else is. I feel that I have to compete with them so I don't get taken advantage of.
I'm mostly tired of the lack of community and the depersonalization of our culture. I want to live in an area where community happens naturally and where I can't ignore the people I see every day, and they can't ignore me. I don't want to have friends at work who are different from friends at school who are different from friends at church who are different from friends by my home, with none of these people knowing one another.
Maybe I just miss the familiarity of Colorado and the people I know there. The metroplex still feels huge, even after five months.
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I think I liked Rapid City (pop. 50,000) the best. Big enough to have a mall. Small enough to drop in on folks. Mitchell was too small (pop. 13,000) -- too many busybodies, to many cliques, too much focus on who's hot and who's not, too many feuds, everybody knew everybody's history and reputation and held it against you, and there was just too much small-minded thinking to deal with. People had a siege mentality, a scarcity mentality, and the feeling of being a remote corner of the world.
But I like where we're at now... we run into folks at Safeway, sometimes folks drop over, we know our neighbors, we see folks at the movies, the rec center, McDonalds, and home group. There's an acceptable amount of community, while having access to some folks that wouldn't ever live in small towns, like Janelle and Kelly for example.
But it takes time, no matter where you live, to get to know enough people that you feel you would most like to be there.
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