A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Small Town Living



I love life in a small town. We moved to a very small town in 1976. On moving day...the ladies of the neighborhood came to visit with rolls, from our little bakery, and a thermos of coffee. They were dressed in long colonial dresses. Later my husband said, "How quaint." They were dressed up for our nation's big birthday party...They dressed like that every Friday and so did the rest of the town. The men in the butcher shop had beards and handle bar mustaches. There was an event everyday of the week pertaining to the birthday. It was a great year to move into this small town. When almost finished unpacking our other neighbors brought a huge bowl of prepared strawberries and hot biscuits and whipped cream. We had a great treat at the end of the day.

We had no mail delivery...so a trip to the post office was a big event in our day. We met so many people there. On "social security" day...the older residents would be there waiting for their checks to come in the mail.

Our drug store and grocery store delivered if you were elderly or sick. No charge.

Our newspaper came out once a week and was mailed, but if you subscribed to a neighboring paper...it was delivered. I kid you not...it was brought up to the house and put inside the door. The kids who delivered were all in the same family and became friends. If I was busy in the kitchen, when they delivered, they brought it in a laid it on the couch.

Our local veterinarian filled in for a "human" doctor occasionally. One of our paper girls fell on a snowy night and the roads were closed going out of town. The local snow plow picked her up and took her to the vet's home to be stitched up.

We hurried to our first Memorial Day Parade with chairs in hand. Set up our chairs and the high school band and the scouts came by...that was the parade. At the end was the group of veterans from the VFW carrying our flag. We stood hands on hearts and sang our anthem...pretty much a duet...as we were not with a group.

We had fires in town and our volunteer firemen all came rushing out of their jobs to put out the fire. One night my son called them, because there was a black bird tangled in a kite string high up in the tree. Down the street came the hook and ladder to rescue the bird.

Our small town Churches were filled on Sunday morning. We gathered together...all the Churches for a town Thanksgiving service. We prayed together in our Churches, when a tragedy struck our nation. The doors were open.

This town was a bit unusual. It was a wonderful place to raise a son and a great town for the older people. We looked out for each other.
I wrote this post this morning, because of a comment from Margie yesterday. She said that we don't get together with neighbors like we used to. Today everyone is so busy doing this and that. I think that we all need time to just breathe and do nothing. It really didn't take anymore time to be the way we used to be. Sometimes it's nice to know your neighbors and be a little more friendly with them. I make an effort to talk to my new neighbors... out in the yard. If someone needs help...we help. I take cookies to some of our neighbor kids. We visit over the fence. It isn't quite the same as my old town, but I have been trying hard to make it my town. I found that just joining something...a Church, friends of the library, a Woman's Club, just saying hello to a stranger at the grocery store...smile at people is a way to get back that friendliness of olden times.

On a larger scale..I feel that with the new President taking office in January...things may change in the way we take care of each other as a nation. He seems to have a good heart and hearing Michelle Obama say, on "60 Minutes" that they had always tried to do some things to better their neighborhood...made me like this couple even more. She was asked what she wanted to accomplish in the White House. She said for the first year their girls would be her priority, but after that maybe she would try to do some things for their new neighborhood...Washington DC.

Balisha

5 comments:

coolwaterworks said...

Hi Balisha,
Your post has given me some pangs of nostalgia about my old neighborhood... When we moved from the hacienda to the city, we lived in a block with just 4 houses. All of us knew each other. The kids would play together... Families would share food and sometimes would do chores for one another... I miss those interactions, specially now that I am living alone in another island far from my family.... :)

Balisha said...

Hi Mark,
I have only lived here 6 yrs. It has taken me that long to feel that I belonged to this community. I too had pangs of nostalgia...thinking about my old life. That's why I have tried so hard to do simple little things for people and with people...so that I get to know folks and can feel included again.Family is wonderful, but they aren't always there for you. You really need a network of different people today...to be contented.

OhioMom said...

Sounds much like the community I grew up in, knowing your neighbors in the city is not as hard as some imagine. It just takes the time and effort you suggest.

My husband and I moved into a new neighborhood 5 years ago, when we take our morning walks we always take the time to stop and talk with our neighbors. We are now a "regular sight" to many people here, and we have helped with gardening and snow removal both.

Great post!

Roses and Lilacs said...

I agree that anyone can create a sense of community in their neighborhood if they make the effort;)
Marnie

Balisha said...

Hi Ohiomom and Marnie,
I think that some people would rather be very private people and that is fine. I just think we miss so much "life" in living that way. We just have to find our "niche" in life and do the best we can.