any small town residents?

I'm bringing this back up because it's now been 3 months since I've lived in this little burg, and I still can't adjust.

Today my officemate was off, so I had to run the cops and fire beat. Here are the 3 biggest calls that came into the sheriff over the weekend:

1. Heifer blocking road.
2. Hay bales on fire underneath power lines.
3. Car-deer interaction, deer lost but was still alive when sheriff got there. Driver wanted to know if he could keep the deer.

Can't say I've ever lived somewhere people ate roadkill....

Tonight, I went to a volunteer appreciation dinner for an organization that promotes the historic downtown. I thought it would be a good way to meet people.

I walked in, and the director of the organization said hi (I've met him previously) and chatted for a bit. I introduced myself to the gentleman he'd been talking to. Dude I'd never seen before says, "Sure, I know you. I read your stuff. You live on the west hill, right?"

Uh ... yeah. I do. But I've never mentioned that publicly, and I've never seen the guy before.

I suppose, given that he owns the grocery store and the hardware store, there are worse people to be known by, but it really brought home the teensy-tinyness of the place.

I pay next to nothing for my apartment, and it's really convenient to all the places I need to be, but 3 cars in a line is a traffic jam here, so it hardly matters. My place is really tiny, and I just feel so ... confined. By everything, everywhere, here. And I'm so lonely and homesick I can hardly stand it. I miss my friends. I miss my multicultural, diverse, welcoming parish (the churches of my faith tradition that I've been to here have been really unfriendly). I miss buildings taller than 3 stories. I can't adjust to the pace of my job, which is significantly slower than what I'm used to, creating lots and lots of boredom. I just want to go home.

Quick, somebody tell me something positive about all this!

CB

((((((((( Candy )))))))))

It's wonderful that one of the most important people in town knows where you are living. Everyone in a small town knows when someone new moves into the burg.

People take care of each other in small towns. They know what being a neighbor really means.

I urge you to visit all the churches. You'll find a nice warm one to which you can adapt. Make the church family your family. You'll be surprised at how happy you can be there.

You can do this, Candy. I know you can. I believe in you.

Hugs,

Jan

PS. Were there any pics of the heifer in the road?

Hello Candy,

Wow, I thought I lived in a small town but I think your's is even smaller.
I do love the closeness of the community. Where I live, everyone knows everyone elses business. Sometimes they know stuff about you before you do. But, it is nice when and if you ever need help.
I hope that you can find the good in small towns. Mine is a little over 1,000 people in population. I've lived here about 25 years. I don't think I could ever live in a large town again.
Keep telling yourself that you can do it. It will get better.
Hugs,
Boopers

candybear
i can't tell any thing positive about your little town, but i can relate to what you are saying, we had to move back in december last year, from the area we knew and sort of love, to this small little village in the middle of nowhere.,
i think there are about 1,000 people living in this place, i also miss my friends , my family and my support network.
did you get your new cell phone? we have the same problem, my wife's moble still has no signal here, and i have just had enough and got a new phone , just so one of us has a signal.
if you want to chat, to someone who understands how your feeling .

dec xox

Dec, I'm so sorry you're going through this too. It is tough being plopped down in a new and unfamiliar place.

I guess I'll bring this post back up in another 3 months and see if it's gotten any better!

we will have to just hang in there, their are others out there who are in worse place's then us !!! ( dont laugh,.......there might be)

Hey, g/f!!

I'm slowly catching up with posts on PC and was wondering how you were adjusting to small town life. I'm not the best person for this topic as I'm also a "city gal." You should have heard me wailing when I moved from Orlando (where I had lived since 1977) only 25 miles away for a new job!! After 3 months on the job and doing the daily Interstate jungle, I opted to move closer to work, so it was my decision to do so, but I just knew how much I was going to miss Orlando.

See, even living in the City of Orlando, I had many of the benefits I've seen posted of living in a small town: people know them, being recognized in various businesses, etc. I went to "my grocery store" and "my pharmacy." I think I was known by name at Taco Bell restaurants in three counties.

The new town I moved to is considered one of the new "chic" places to live and is growing rapidly. Even though a smaller town...it's pace was more frenetic than Orlando. But, I settled in and "established myself" in a new grocery store with a pharmacy...and this pharmacy is so cool - when I walk in, they just pull my prescriptions, don't even ask my name...lol. And, I could drive the 25 miles and go into Orlando if I wanted. Basically ended up just going back for Dr. and dentist appointments.

THEN, after living in the new town for 2 years, the rent went skyhigh so I had to find a less expensive apt. I moved again to where I am now. It is only 5 miles from my second place but seems WORLDS away. It is an old, historic, Southern town that has been around EONS before the previous town. When I lived in Orlando, I considered it a bit on the redneck side (only having passed through it maybe a few times) unbeknownst I'd EVER be living here.

Now I LOVE IT!! I find I have no desire to go to Orlando now (except for the medical visits) and am enjoying the quiet, calm here. My favorite thing is that, although it is the smallest town in the county, it is the county seat, so all the state offices: driver's license and tag offices, county medical facilities, courthouse, etc. are like 1/4 mile away. The "main street" looks like Mayberry and is becoming known for its antique shops. The irony is that people from Orlando now drive here to have a quiet weekend and/or go antiquing.

So...my opinion, the best of both worlds is a small town for convience, but close enough, not necessarily to a large city, but a town within easy driving distance that "fills in" other needed shopping, etc. When I need those, I go the "big 5 miles" back to the second town.

Hopefully that was supportive in two ways: TOTALLY with you on being a city girl; but have found features of small-town living that I really enjoy.

**Continuing to read...**

{{{{{CandyBear}}}}}

I've lived in a small town my entire life. Its a little over 5 minutes to the nearest few stores but its about 15 minutes or a little more to get out in town. But I like the small town. Im not one of those people who would like to live in the city actually. I agree, it may be closer but just not my cup of tea. I love the small town...Its nice and quiet, You can go outside in your yard in your pajamas or whatever and dont worry about anyone really seeing you (lol) You dont have the hustle bustle and you can sleep better at night, or I can anyways, and Most people in small towns have bigger yards and more room, etc. Except my sister and her husband are a little farther out than I like. lol. They live like 15 minutes down this highway and then after that still it takes them about 10 minutes or longer to get to town. It takes us half an hour to get to their house! Now, we arent that far out in the middle of nowhere. in fact, we arent in the middle of nowhere at all, now that is a little annoying getting to her house. Anyways, I'm sure the city people could tell me some good things about the city. Anyone wants to fill me in I'll be happy to listen

I lived in a small town for most of my life (a town of about 800 people) and I hated it... so did my mom and sister, but my dad loved it since it was where he grew up. EVERYONE knew EVERYTHING about you. We're not the type of family to stick our noses in other people's business so the only way we knew about others is if the town gossip babbled to us (and the town gossip was usually my grandma). For example: when I was in sixth grade I was at school and I broke my ankle. Not more than 1-2 hours later the entire town knew what had happened. Rumors started flying how I fell down a flight of stairs or some other lame explanation... none of which were true. It's just the simple things like that that annoy me. And believe me when I say from experience (not saying that all small towns are like this) but the people are definitely NOT nicer in small towns. In fact they are much ruder and stuck up.

Later on we moved to a suburb of a city and I found it to be much more convenient. We knew some people and only some knew us. Everything we needed was nearby; large bookstores, grocery stores, everything. We recently moved back to a small town (because of a job transfer) and we're beginning to miss the conveniences of a larger area.

I wish I lived in a small town. Let's switch places. Im really starting to hate the city.

We have 1700 people. Closest walmart is 45 minutes away. "In the good weather" Life is different. But sometimes better. Kinda like Cheer's" Where everyone knows your name" Good luck!

<font color="purple"> Too me 13,000 pple is a big town.city, b/c I live in a VERY small town....maybe only a few thousand pple if that! I grew up in Mass on the south shore and loved it, lots to do, and surrounded by a lot of family...... I was 12 when he moved up here to Vermont...... Took some getting use to, but I love it! I miss my family, but I am married now with 4 kids and I find it to be a great place to rasie these kids...... There is no service for cell phone, cant get a signal for about 10 miles south....OH wait thats a fib, ya can get a signal at the end of my long driveway, LOL! We dont yet have cable in my area, and I live on a main route, LOL.... We do have satellite, a rec feild to play sports, a small ma/pa store and thats it, oh and a post office which use to be an old 1 room school house! It takes my husband and I 20-30 minutes to get to work..... to shop....to get to any amenities..... Dont even have our own firestation, have to share with next town.... But I live on 25 acres of bliss.... A river to fish and swin in, winter and summer sledding..... Yes summer sledding, b/c I have a HUGE sand hill..... kids can ride bikes and snow machine without having to go on the main road, I live between my inlaws and my parents, so I have instant sitters...... I have lost of wild berry bushes (blueberry, raspberry (both black and red), plus wild strawberries!) , we have lots of wildlife around, our eldest was even able to hand feed a baby deer! There are a kids in the villiage, a mile down the road that my kids can play with..... I like the fact that my kids have so much space to run, play , and be loud , we have lots of fun...... My family in Mass like the bring their kids up to my place to visit and play, too....

After you get settled in I think you will be able to find some positives to living in a small town..... Good luck!</font>

Grew up in the country. Had to drive everywhere. When we had a blizzard, we had to take in the neighbors kids. we had 11 kids in the house around the wood stove. Noisy, but cozy.

Small towns can encourage stronger relationships. Everyone smiles and says "hi".

You are never really alone in a small town.

I grew up in an area with maybe 500 people. The closest town/city was a 20-30 minute drive...same goes with the closest store. I love the country and would never live any closer to town.

I live in Amish country and everyone knows each other. It's a place where leaving your doors unlocked is how you do it...no worry about big city crime. Everyone is protective of each other and we smile when someone goes by.

People ask me what it's like where I live...I just tell them to just imagine Little House On the Prairie...it's very much like that.

I thought I'd revisit this topic -- tomorrow marks 14 months for me here.

Saturday, I went to the pharmacy. I told the clerk the prescriptions I needed filled, and was very specific, because I have two different strengths of one med and only needed the one.

The total was a good bit less than I thought it should be, so I looked in the bag before leaving the store, and yep -- they had given me the wrong strength of Effexor, even though I had specified which one I needed.

When I finally got what it was that I needed, I was told that they wouldn't charge me for the difference, since it had been their mistake, and I got 2 extra punches on my "frequent customer" card (with 6, you get $10 off the next time you go in).

This so would NOT happen at Walgreens.

And although their hours suck, they'll deliver if I need them to, and both pharmacists and most of the techs know me by name.

So, there ya go -- score one for small towns. But I'll have to bump you off if you tell anybody I found something about them that I like.

well you say that we have been here now just over a year and there are good points about being here, we have a roof over our heads the landlady is ok, and the small shops we vist are good and the doctors surgary are starting to know me by name as we pick our prescriptions up at the surgary as it has a chemist along side, the busses are regular either way into town or into the local big shopping area so kids dont have an excuse about being here
the children are friends with our nearest neighbour which is in the appartment downstairs
the down fall is the bus doesnt get the kids to school on time so i still do the school run each day

In my experience people from small towns are friendlier than big city folk. I live in the country on a farm and most people wave when they drive past my house.

I live in a college town with a population of about 15,000 without the students and about 30,000 with the students...So, small, but not tiny (I will say though, in the summer when all the students leave, it seems extremely empty). It's alright...I wish it were bigger though. I like cities.

I love the small town we are in. actually I am about a mile outside of town which is all the better I suppose. very quiet here. the town has about 1200 and out where I am we have maybe 20 lol. I would never live in the city again.

Candybear,

LOL, the term “small town” seems to vary apparently! I grew up in a small town, about 500-700 full time residents! When I graduated from High School, there were 80 students in K-12. EVERYONE knew EVERYONE. And if you were a new resident, you learned that we were all related either through birth or marriage.

After graduation, I moved immediately, could not WAIT to get out, and I was never coming back. My husband (from the neighboring small town about 1000 residents) was in the Navy and we lived literally around the world.

When our eldest started school we were in a city (imo) of 16,000 people. It looked very similar to the place I grew up, but the demographics were a lot different. There were gangs and crime that I just was not accustom to.

We also discovered my son was learning disabled. He was in an elementary school with thousands of other students, the school really didn’t care if he got the help he needed. Furthermore, they asked if his federally funded teacher’s aid could grade papers and such when he was in art class, PE, and recess. Of course! I replied. Turns out, they used the money for his aid to pay for an existing aid, that never even met my child. He was NOT getting the help our tax dollars were paying for.

We had a 6 foot privacy fence and my children were still unable to play outside unless my husband and I were right there, watching every second. As a final straw, we lived two blocks from the elementary school. There was a drive by shooting and a two-year old was injured. I had had enough! We moved back to that little town that I grew up in.

My daughter was too bright to stay home from school another year. Her birthday was a month and a half after the cut off date. The school was willing to test her to see if she was emotionally and academically ready to start school, something larger cities and towns are unwilling to do. She was, and ended up graduating shortly after her 17th birthday.

We now live in a small town, about 1000 people, about 45 minutes north of Green Bay. It has all the advantages of a small town, but Green Bay, Milwaukee, and Chicago are all within a few hours drive. So we have the advantages of both. The noise, crime, and congestion of the city just isn’t worth it to me.

Someone earlier mentioned a pharmacy, how nice is it to call your pharmacist 5 minutes before they close and tell them that you just broke your insulin bottle, and need a new one to hear “hey, you’re on my way home, I’ll drop it off, do you need needles or testing strips too?”

Hillary Clinton once said “It takes a village to raise a child.” The advantages of a small town are that if my kids are doing something they’re not supposed to, they KNOW I’ll find out about it before they even get home.

I used to live in a town called Marshall, in the state of Michigan. Bunch of snobby people, and rednecks...