Small-Town Springtime

It’s a cloudy, rainy springtime Tuesday in Western Kentucky, the violets, dogwoods, and red-bud trees are in full bloom, and yes, the lawn that looked so pretty and freshly   -mown over the weekend is now sprouting dandelion balls of fluff, spreading their joy to the rest of the yard and neighborhood. There hasn’t been a day that I haven’t been able to hear a lawn mower, even on days of intermittent showers.

Life in a small town.

I am on a discussion loop in which someone questioned the wisdom of so many books being set in small-town America. It made me stop and think. While I love visiting large cities on occasion, and the countryside as often as possible, I live, write, and worship in a small town.

We’re talkin’ Mayberry-small, here.

The sheriff is in my Sunday School class. Really, he is.

When we moved here 27 years ago (I still can’t believe it’s been 27 years), we had bounced around with my husband’s teaching, back when “English teachers are a dime a dozen,” and assumed he would teach here a few years, then we’d “get” to move back home, 60 miles away. After those few years, that was the farthest thing from our minds.

We were home.

Having grown up in a rural “bedroom community,” we now lived in a town of 3,300 that was 30 minutes from the nearest Wal-Mart, and an hour from the nearest city of any size, but we lived in a TOWN. That was new to us. We were on speaking-terms with county and city officials, because they were like us – regular folks who lived in a small town. Somebody has to do all those tasks. “Back home,” we were 20 miles from the county seat, so we didn’t move in those circles. Now we lived in the county seat.

It was a change, for sure.

And it continues to be. The longer we have lived here, the more involved we’ve become. The more we feel an actual PART of the community. Someone told us when we first moved here “you will never be FROM here, so don’t even try.”

I felt sorry for that person. Now there are times when people forget that we didn’t grow up here, that we don’t have roots going back to the early 1800’s. (Actually, we do, but that’s a story for another day!)

Small towns may be dying in some areas, but when you find one you love, you have to stay true to it. Our little town has had ups and downs: in the early 1900’s there was a Spar mining boom, and the county population grew exponentially; in the late 90’s a major plant closed that decimated our tax base and population. But the town is still here, and there are folks who care, and have stayed. Some have even come back, because it has a place in their hearts.

That’s caring about a small town, folks. It’s caring about your neighbors, and what did Jesus instruct us to do? Love our neighbors.

And that’s why people like to write and read about life in a small town. From the gossip at the hair salon to the cars pulling over for a funeral procession, we care.

Now a question for you – what is YOUR favorite small town? Do you live in it? Do you have great memories of it? Share!  You may give me some great ideas! 🙂

Bless you all,