I can clearly remember a time when I was around 15 telling my mother I would never move back to a small town.  I meant that wholeheartedly.  I was going to go away to college (far, far away) and never look back.  Fast-forward 15 years and here I am living in a small town.  Smaller than the one where I grew up! 

In July of this year we packed up our things in a U-Haul and made the 25-mile journey to Haven, KS.  We had been living on the southwest side of Wichita in a brand new home surrounded by more brand new homes and lots of neighbors who were pretty much just like us.  We all went to work in the morning and in the evening pulled into our garage, shut the door and never looked back.  In the three years we lived in Wichita I met the people that lived next door to us once. 

By the first of August we had people stopping by to introduce themselves and I had been invited to everything you could possibly do in Haven in your spare time.  In one month’s time I met more people living in this small town than I ever knew living in Wichita.  There is a group of women that play volleyball at the high school, a group of mom’s who get together on Tuesday mornings, a women’s bible study on Monday evenings and on Friday the library has story hour for the kids.  Who knew! 

There are some drawbacks to small town living.  For instance, there is not a car wash within the city limits unless you count your driveway and a garden hose.  Plus, if you want the paper (we still subscribe to the Eagle) you get the “early” edition and the Target add isn’t included!  I’ve been seriously tempted to cancel it due to that one omission but my husband can consume an entire Sunday afternoon reading the Sports page so I just suffer. 

I have decided that small town life isn’t so bad.  I am sure there are others out there who made the same decree I did when I was 15.  Looking back I don’t know what I was thinking.  My childhood was pretty carefree.  Much more so than some of my cousins who grew up in the city.  In the end we went back to our roots.  We are small town kids at heart.  I like knowing everyone in town and even if they do know all of your business at least they know you.  That one fact, I have learned, really makes a difference. 

So I encourage all of you Reno County “lifers” to find ways to be more involved in your community and invite the people who are new to the area to become involved.   Whether it be Haven, Hutch, Buhler, Partridge or any place in between the relationships you make with others who work and live with you make up what we call “life.”  In the end, it isn’t about the place it is about the people. 

Comments 

I agree with you, obvious drawbacks to living anywhere really, but I will take small town attitude and small town traffic any day.

Finally! Someone who gets it. I live in Arlington and yes everyone knows your business,but that's what makes the morning gossip so good when you go to the cafe for coffee in the morning!

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