Small Town

We live in a town with a population of about 13,000 people. There are several other towns around us with similar numbers. I spent my teenage years in a town nearly twice as big and thought it was too small and definately not cool. My, how things change. I love living here. I love that we know our postman has a nine year old boy who plays hockey. I love that someone stopped me on the street on their way home from school yesterday to say Pele looked just like their dog. I love that I run into the same people out walking and they ask how we're doing with all of our kids. I love that "rush hour" here means it might take you 4 minutes longer than otherwise. I love the neighbors we have who come over to walk our dog for us or play with Katie. I feel safe not having things locked all the time. I love that all of the houses here look traditional, modest even when they're big, and so unique. I see gardens everywhere when we're out driving or walking. I love that the grocery store is two miles away at most. People are generally friendly and have the time to talk to you. The post office is not even half a mile away and neither is the library. As weird as this may sound, I even love that we live right next to a cemetery because it's so peaceful to walk through it.

Then there's just living in New England in general. The trees are so amazing - they're everywhere! The mountains here aren't like the Rockies by any means, but I love that I see them all around us and they're covered in trees. We have rivers and streams everywhere and everything seems to bloom in flowers in the spring. It is just a gorgeous place to be.

I will admit there are drawbacks. The nearest Costco is over an hour and a half away. Property taxes are insane. As close as the grocery store may be, it's pricey compared to larger cities and the variety is significantly less. Any shopping besides food and it's wise to travel to one of the bigger cities. That wouldn't be such a big deal if I wasn't hauling 3 little people with me. And the nearest airport is an hour and a half away.

These things keep running through my mind as Jeremy and I occasionally discuss where we want to end up. I wish we could transplant this little piece of home anywhere we went because I will be so sad when it's time to go. I don't think you can find many places like this. But as my mom always said when I was growing up (and still tells me), you can be happy anywhere you choose to be. There's good and bad in all places and you can choose what you're going to see. My mom rocks. I'm just glad it's so easy to see the good here.