Life In The Slow Lane

When people think of life in a small town I think they imagine it is slow paced, boring way to live.  The truth is living in a small town is exhausting!!  Seriously, exhausting.  When I lived in a big town, I did not stay busy.  I think I could fill every hour of my life if I wanted to.  In a small town, there is more ownership.  If a person has any sense of community, they understand volunteering is essential.  The problem is only a small percentage of people take their responsibility seriously.  So a handful of people work for the entire town. 
Small towns do not have never ending budgets to get things done.  If all the bushes downtown look shabby, people take it upon themselves to trim them.  Our village workers do not have the time for constant upkeep.  Clean-up days are held in the warm weather.  People walk around pulling weeds, picking up garbage.  Don't complain about the town looking shabby if you do not want to help change it.
Mondays are the only day I do not go into Coco's.  Last year I would spend an hour a week in Tink's classroom.  This year I am helping in Coco's class.  I spend three hours on Monday mornings volunteering.  The Kindergarten classes are very crowded.  There are 30 students in Coco's class.  Sounds like chaos, it really is not.  Coco has an amazing teacher.  She keeps her class very organized.  She does not scream at the kids.  She will take any help from volunteers that she can get.  There are teachers who do not want parents helping.  I had a great time yesterday!!  I helped kids who needed to finish papers.  I worked one of the stations where the students were working on new things.  I went with the class to their Redbird store.  They collect Redbird bucks for good behavior.  That was fun!!  I was exhausted when I left the class.  I really enjoyed it. I am always happily exhausted when I leave.
After school I force myself to go straight to the grocery store.  I am trying to cook more.  Went home started laundry, cooked up a bunch of hamburger.  I freeze the cooked meat.  Pull out small packages when I want to throw something together.  So useful!!  Started laundry.  Took a much needed nap.  At 4:00 I attended a meeting for the group that works to improve the town.  I am on the committee the plans all the events.  We are planning our Christmas activities now.  The only major event I do not work on is July 4th.  I do not want to touch that!!  I enjoy July 4th picnics.  That meeting took about 90 minutes.  I went home ate dinner and went to the Village Meeting.  I do not always attend the village meeting.  This was important because it was regarding road projects downtown.  I need to be aware how long roads will be torn up and how it will affect businesses on our side of the block.  Did not receive any good news at that meeting!
Tonight I have a church meeting.  I am part of the group that is doing the search for a new Pastor.  This is an important committee to be a part of.  Finding the right Pastor for our little church is very important!!! 
My point to this is not to say look at me, I am so important.  It is to show how small town life sucks a person in.  One person can make a difference in our town.  One idea can have an impact.  There are people that do much more than I do.  There are people that are not involved in any of the organizations but on their own will spend hours picking up litter.  They will pick a street and clean it up. 
There are also too many people that complain about how things are done but never help.  They use the excuse, nothing ever changes.  No sense wasting our time.  All the negative stuff people say when they are just too lazy or self-absorbed to get involved.
I love my town.  I want it to thrive and grow.  I want our Christmas activities to be so awesome people drive here to see what we do.  We are building something special.  A few people sit in a meeting and come up with amazing ideas.  Then we make it happen.  Hard not to want to get involved with that!!!



A Shattered Village

Less than two weeks ago our quaint, little village was ripped apart.  A tragedy that has only happened maybe once many years ago, happened.  Two women were murdered in their home.  A mother and her adult daughter.  The daughter's boyfriend was wounded.  I know murders take place in our country daily. Not in our village.  I like to describe my town as Pleasantville.  People drive slow.  There is only one stoplight in town and it is a mile from main street.  Everyone waves.  Children ride their bikes and play flashlight tag.  The church chimes ring at lunch and at dinner.   Baseball and softball games dominate summer evenings.   It can be boring and I love that.
The town has crime.  Stolen bikes, often found thrown in the creek.  Cars get broken into.  Easy task when people do not always lock them.  Once in a while a business will be broken into.  There are drugs.  I am sure there is domestic violence.  We do not expect violence.  To have our Saturday morning blown apart with the news that two people were murdered in their home would never cross our minds.  As it spread through the town, people did not know what to do with the news.  In a small town if you do not know the people, you know someone that knows them, or you know someone in the family.  If on the off chance you have no connection at all, the town is small enough it is still going to be very upsetting.  It was like being punched.  I did not directly know any of the victims.  I have met and know some of the women's family.  Good people.  Family people.  People that teach school and coach sports, and help in church.  People that put their children first, always.  The only thing everyone can be thankful about is a child lived in the house too.  He was on vacation with his Aunt when it happened.  They got off the plane to horrific news.  That haunts me.  So much of what happened haunts our town.  It is the main thing people talked about for days.  People are still talking about.  The questions, are we safe, was it random, how could this happen here.  Always ending with thoughts of the child.  Thoughts of his Aunt and her family.  So many prayers.
The day after the terrible day my Pastor addressed the tragedy.  She is not from our town.  She does not know the families.  She knew we needed to hear something.  She said not all the powers in the world are good powers.  There is also evil.  I know you all want to know where God is when terrible things happen.  She said he is all around.  You will see his presence in so many ways in the coming days.  I pray that is true for the family.  I pray God has wrapped his arms around them every minute since their lives were touched by such an evil event.  I know how our small town works.  I know they have been surrounded by their family and friends.  Caring people will open their hearts and help in any way they can.
Will our village ever feel safe again?  I think so.  It will never seem as innocent as it was before.  In our lifetimes we will not forget that part of a family was taken in a brutal, senseless act.  We all want closure.  We want someone, unrelated to our town, to be found guilty of this crime.  That will not change what happened.  It would just make it easier to see a stranger and not wonder who they are and why they are here.  See a strange car and not want to run inside.  Check to make sure the doors are locked even in the daylight. In big cities murders happen often.  Most people do not have any knowledge of the families touched by the tragedies.  They go on with their lives knowing things like that happen.  Not here.  Not in our town.  We will see first hand how a family has to pick themselves up and find a way to live their lives.  Many of us will continue to pray for them, hold them in our thoughts.  We are still a small town.  Still a good town.

Saving Our Village Via BBQ

I think I have mentioned before that I am involved in an organization to improve life in our Village.  I love our little town.  I want to see it thrive.  One of our goals is to bring people into our town to visit.  The more people that visit, the more people can fall in love with our Village.  Maybe they will want to move to our Utopia.
Our newest project, which has somehow come under my leadership, is a BBQ Contest/Spring Fest.  I think next year we will market it as a Spring Festival that happens to have a BBQ contest.  That ensures people know that there are other things besides the contest.  One of the hard things about planning an event for the first time is, we have no idea what to expect.  Will we have 100 people, will we have 500 people?  Will it just be our little group staring at each other?
The plans are evolving into what I hoped and imagined.  Activities for all ages.  Music, food, bouncing house, bubbles, bags, crafts, balloons, ice cream.  Fun for all ages.  The event takes place on May 7th.  Put it on your calendar.  Bring your kids, bring your lawn chair, bring your friends.  Stay for an hour, or all day. 
My friend, Willie, and his band will be playing.  Tink's nursery school will be singing.  A great jump rope group will entertain.  You might even be able to find some beer.  Downside, I don't think there will be wine!  Put this on your calendar.  In years to come you will want to say, I was at the first Spring Fest, before it turned into a HUGE festival.

It Must Be September I See Carnies

This is a very exciting time in our little town. We are two days, one night away from the town fall festival. Or as The Kid tells you the next best holiday after Christmas. The Carnival starts showing up on Sunday. The town starts closing roads. Tonight I bought tickets for the kids wrist bands. Thursday night is discount night at the carnival for locals. It is usually the only day the kids will get to go on rides. Friday is suppose to be corn dog night. A tradition that is very special between Tru Stories and I. BuT she has been known to sneak one on Thursday. I have been known to sneak one on Thursday too. Not together, so it does not count. Friday is still our sacred corn dog night.

Friday is Grandparent's Day at the school. The schools get out early. Seriously, the FESTIVAL is HUGE. Friday is tractor pull contest, hanging around downtown. Lemon Shake-Ups. Saturday is Craft Show and Flea Market, shows on the main stage, Karaoke. Food, food, food. Walking slowly down the street, running into people that are not usually around. Saturday night used to be about drinking and staying out way to LATE or early morning. Now we watch the Karaoke Contest and babysit the grandkids.

Sunday is one last trip through the vendors. Make sure I did not forget to buy something. I never buy as much as I think I am going to. There is also a softball tournament that Coach takes part in. We usually catch one or two games on Saturday. Sunday is parade day. It is hard to get around town. There are cars everywhere, streets get shut down. The parade goes right by Tru Stories house. She has a parade party. It is becoming one of my favorite days. The parade is very looooong. There are tractors and tractors and tractors, sometimes a combine, and fire trucks, and more tractors, lots of bands, did I mention the tractors. This parade lasts a couple of hours. We sit in the chairs, watch the little kids dance to the music, watch the older kids go into a feeding frenzy on the candy that is not suppose to be thrown. We have enough food to feed an army. It is a good day. Everyone winds down. The kids are exhausted. The adults are super exhausted. The stands start closing up. Carnival breaks down. We can hear the bands competing over at the football field.

It is going to be a great week-end. If you like corn dogs, and crafts, come up to our little town. Stormie there's lots of boose. Drunk girls too. Doctor, there is a race on Saturday morning. Last year Willie performed. He knows there are bands in every bar. Little something for everyone.