Life in a Small Town
The longer we live in our new town, the more I notice the differences between life here and in bigger towns I've lived in. Before now, the smallest town I lived in had over 30,000 people. Soda Springs has 3,000. When we decided to move here, I thought the only adjustment would be that there would be fewer people to get to know. Clearly, I was mistaken.
These are just a few of the many little differences in my everyday life in a small town, all of which I absolutely love.
1. People are unbelievably friendly here. For example, I wasn't watching where I was going at the grocery store yesterday and stood right in front of an old man while I took my time browsing the bagel selection. When I noticed I'd stood in his way, I started to apologize, but he just smiled and told me to take my time. I'm pretty sure that if I'd done the same thing in our last town, someone would have punched me. Grocery shopping was the worst there.
2. Also related to grocery shopping: I would never have to load my own groceries into my car again if I didn't want to. Seriously, every time I buy groceries, the person bagging them always starts walking out to my car with my groceries for me. I always insist on doing it myself, because really, I'm 25. I can carry my own groceries. But they always get upset when I do this, like they're genuinely concerned that I can't manage it on my own. In fact, the high school boy bagging my groceries yesterday insisted on pushing my cart out to my car and loading my groceries into it. Which is adorable, by the way, that a 16 year old boy is so courteous.
3. I basically feel like Belle from Beauty and the Beast when I go to the little library here. I've had my library card for 8 days and have been there 3 times, and checked out 9 books. Clearly, the librarian thinks I'm a little nuts. She also seems to like me, but I can't tell for sure. I'm determined that eventually she'll like me, if only because I plan on seeing her so often in the future.
4. Running errands takes pretty much no time at all. Yesterday I went to the post office, where I mailed 80 Save the Dates, the bank, the library, and grocery shopping. I was home in well under an hour. This is crazy!
5. This last one clearly isn't true of every small town, but I can't get over how much I love having a geyser in the middle of town. It goes off every hour, on the hour. Seeing a geyser erupting right behind Main Street while I'm driving to class in the morning pretty much makes my day.
Has anyone else ever moved to a small town and loved it as much as I do? Or are most of you big city people?
24 comments:
I'm from a small town and we tend to prefer small towns on the whole for the reasons you listed above :) We're in Santa Fe now (around 65,000) but it's by far the biggest town we've ever lived in. The last town we lived in was around 3000 and we loved it.
When I was a kid, I lived in a town of 140 people (only 30,000 in the entire county). I got sick with cancer at age four, and my parents were absolutely OVERWHELMED by the support. People would just randomly send us money or drop by and bring food/money/whatevs. They had a huge benefit supper for me at the local rod and gun club too. My mother, who's from a biggish city in California, said that while she wouldn't want to live there now, she couldn't have asked for a better place to have a sick daughter. I think we'll always live in small towns :)
i lived in toronto until i was 7, then we moved to a small tourist town where both my parents were born n raised. i'm kitchener for college now and although it's not a huge city, i miss my little town. i honestly can't stand the drama and just plain "cityness" i've seen since being here.
i love the support and just general community of being from a small town. when something happens to one family, the whole town pitches in. everyone knows everyone and i honestly loved my small town high school experience. 3 of my teachers have been friends with my mom for years, and another was my cousin!
i always love taking home city friends, they think i'm nuts when i end up stopping and talking to every. single. person we run into, but that's just the way kincardine is.
let's just say, event though i was born in toronto.. kincardine will always be my hometown.
sounds very nice.
Soda Springs is a great place, and Idaho for a matter of fact is great too! :) Glad that you are enjoying it!
Hey Michelle,
You are so right! I was born and raise in the country - on a farm - but my parents eventually moved into a small town. We're talking about 1000 people. Now I've lived in places like Montreal and Ottawa for school, but just last spring I moved back to this wee rural town. It's the simplest place, and those are oftentimes the best.
I grew up in orange county then I moved to a little town in utah. SUCH A DIFFERENCE! people are so much more friendly. I didn't like it at first and now I absolutely love it. It is such a great way to live life.
Wow, and I thought my town was small! We've got about 15,000 and it feels pretty tiny! The largest place I ever lived was Portland, OR which has around 500,000 people. That's more my speed I think, although like I said, I've never tried a super small town. That actually sounds pretty nice, albeit a little weird. Do you ever feel like everyone knows your business? (Just a stereotype I've noticed from movies about small towns).
I've never lived in a town with less than a few hundred thousand.. I'm jealous. It seems so nice!
i pretty much want to live in soda springs. it's adorable!
Oh, hun, until these past couple of months (and the two years I spent at Purdue), I lived in a town of 1,000. It's very much the same--the grocery store is a 5-minute walk away, and right across from the bank and small post office. It's great. My family all lives within two miles of each other. There are some good and downsides to being from there (most of which pertains to everyone knowing everyone's business), but it is still nice to have such a close-knit community to call home. I hope that you continue to adjust and enjoy Soda Springs!
I grew up in a small town, very close to the woods and I loved it! public transportation was aweful, but apart from that I am so glad my parents chose this environment for me to grow up in. I now live in a bigger city until I finish my bachelors degree but miss the countryside so much. it used to bother me that everybody on the street new me. now it bothers me that I don't know anybody when I leave the house. small towns are definitely awesome!
So lovely! Yes I do like small towns because people are so much nicer but I also like small neighbourhoods in big cities. My boyfriend has just moved to London but we already have our favorite cafe and stores etc... I love it!
The scenery in your town is so beautiful! Small towns here in the UK just don't have the same feel to them.
I'm a city girl due to work. I work in a bar and don't drive so I can't live too far out - public transport is terrible! When I'm older though I'd like to live somewhere more peaceful.
Michelle,
I live in Chicago currently. I've never lived in a small town (I'm typically afraid that the inhabitants won't be as friendly to a person of color in their midst) but I have lived in small(ish) suburbs.
There are things about the big city that I love. There's always something to do. My yoga studio is amazing. People are typically very friendly. Lots of great places to eat! Excellent shopping. But it costs a lot, taxes are high, politicians are corrupt and greedy (which adds to the high costs/taxes), and traffic is a nightmare. Jobs here are competitive and hard to come by, and if you do land one, likely it's going to be on that wants to take over your ENTIRE life and suck out your soul. And the grocery store thing? HA! I'm one of the impatient ones!
Still, as far as running into people I know? It happens a lot here in Chicago. A lot more than I'd expect anyway.
But I miss living in a more laid back place. I miss not having to feel like I'm racing for my LIFE if I go for a drive, I miss not needing to carve out 30 minutes just to go two miles. I miss sidewalks that aren't covered with dog poo and trees that aren't covered in dog pee. I miss fields and miles of green.
So I'm just really torn!
I'm really glad you're enjoying where you live. :) You're such a peaceful type person, so I can see why this place suits you so much.
anywhere-is.net
ronni@anywhere-is.net
A little bit of both. I actually lived in town {po.60k} but most of my family {including my mother} lived in a small community 30mi outside of town. Everyone knew everyone. I love{ed} going to the store because I know I'll always see at least a couple people I know/recognize. Its a very comfortable feeling.
Aww! So sweet! This totally reminds me of my home town - we had a grocery store in town where the baggers did that same thing. :) I was desperate to get out of there when I graduated high school but now that I am older, I can look back and appreciate all that small town stuff.
Great post! :)
How exciting! Love the appeal of a small town. Though the smallest I've ever lived in was 25,000. I'm so glad to be back reading my fav. blogs. :) I love your new header, too!
I'm from a small town and I kind of miss it. However, I live in a semi bigger town but it has a small town feel, which I love :) I'll be moving to the BIG city in a few years. I can only hope that it is so welcoming
how pretty - i just recently moved to a very small town (SLO, CA) and its so so odd getting used to it here. its very different than the city life of new orleans i'm used to.
Over the next week or so I'll document my time in CO... felt small compared to Miami.. you are wayyyy smaller!! whoa!
Check out my blog:
http://amandagrisham.blogspot.com/
Amanda
looks SO gorgeous!! sometimes i wish i lived in a small small town. you make me want to even more!
first photo melts my heart. i wish i was there right now. :)
we, me and my boyfriend, bought a small house in a village last year, we moved from small town with 10,000 people to this village, with something like 300 people... but most important - it is near woods and it is so quiet that you can hear your heart beating in the middle of the night. :) i love it.
a geyser would be pretty cool too! ;)
I have never lived in a small town like that, butI dream of it one day. Seriously, a "Beauty and the Beast" library, I am already in love.
i moved to a small town in February.
if i didn't know it's not for ever, i would've gone mad by now.
it's not that it's so bad... it's just that it's not so great either:)
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