Ramblings in, from, and about a small town....

If there was ever a song that could sum up my life in a very general way, it has to be John Mellencamp's "Small Town." I was reminded of this song when a number of things over the course of a couple of days brought to my mind why I chose to live in a small town.
One day last week, I got home early and went to the grocery store and had my wife's purse sitting beside me in the car. I didn't think to take it of course and she was at the gym, so I left it in the truck. However, like always, I didn't lock the door. It was still there when I got back to the car about 20 minutes later. It was a busy day at the grocery store and any number of people would have walked by the truck and seen it. They would have also seen the car next to me that was running with the doors unlocked and no one in it too. While in the store, it is very enjoyable to have people, some strangers and some friends, say hello and offer to let you go ahead when you have two or three items compared to their cart full.
Also, I like it when my neighbors saythat if I need something, go ahead and get it, because the doors aren't locked. (and vice versa) I like knowing my neighbors, whether good or bad, and feel safer for it.
I went to my hometown to help my dad, and he wanted to go to the local watering hole to get a flu shot. The other person with us, my nephew in law, wanted to get something but the waitress was busy, so we went behind the bar, near the cash register and got it. No problem, just tell them about it when you see them. It was assumed that you are honest and could be trusted.
I took my family shooting and it turned into a full day of what some people might call "redneck" fun, but God as my witness, it was fun nevertheless. It was great watching things blow apart from a well aimed high caliber bullet impact!
What is the most used door in a small community? The back door. It is always unlocked and most homes have a open door policy, as long as you close it when you are done.
I like it when, for no reason at all other than being kind and good neighbors, you get invited over to eat at their home.

Childhood memories from a small town:

-waiting for the school bus to arrive. at the grain elevator with the "off duty" famers.
-a black Labrador dog named "Blackie" who was my constant, steadfast companion. He even knew when to walk up to meet me when the school bus dropped me off.
-wiener roasts for my birthday over a HUGE fire with all my friends and family.
-coming home and often finding friends sitting in the house waiting for you to come home so they could do something with you.
-inventing games because the current version wasn't dangerous enough.
-baseball games that were called not because you had played 9 innings, but because it was too damned dark to see the other players or because someone invoked the secret rule that beaning a player with a ball was as good as tagging them for an out with your glove.
-WWII combat actions re-enacted with some of the same ferocity of the real thing, except only with bb guns.
-bb gun fights that lasted all weekend long!
-D&D games that lasted all weekend long!
-swimming in the Whiskey Creek after my friends and I dammed up the entire creek with rocks and broken tile.
-noticing that when a person died, it was a shock to the entire community, not just a single family.
-I knew the names of everyone in my entire high school, junior high, and some of the grade school.
-camping out at Kaufman's Timber where a bringing a sleeping bag was considered an afterthought.
-climbing to the top of the grain elevator at night and guess what towns you could see from afar and trying to pick out the constellations.
-walking into town after hunting and leaning the guns up on the side of the candy store while you went in for some snacks.
-snow storms that turned the countryside into a barren, frozen wasteland. (it literally looked completely different and strange)
-most of your teachers were pretty cool to hang out with, even in the summer.
-having a drivers license was a technicality.
-knowing that you could not get into trouble, because everyone would know about it within 3 days.


I told you this would be a ramble...

later!