It's the Little Things

I'm not exactly sure what all the factors are that create the monumental difference between big city attitude and small town attitude, but there is a remarkable difference indeed.

The closest little town to my house is a five minute drive up the highway. One of 13 communities that make up the township I live in and I'd guess the population is around 500 people. It's a very small village but they have just about anything you'd need. Gas stations, a grocery store, doctors, dentists, hardware stores, coffee shops, cafes, post office even a bridal shop and a physical therapist office. It's where I go if I just need a few things.

Today I needed a couple of boxes of replacement lights for our Christmas lights, and I knew the hardware store was open until 4:30, so that's where I went. As I remarked to Kev later, you know you're in a small town when you walk into a busy hardware store full of complete strangers on a Saturday afternoon, but the atmosphere and the attitude is so welcoming you feel like you just walked into Grandma's house on a family holiday.

The thing about living in a small community like this is that no matter where you go, folks smile and nod and say hello. If you ask for help in a store, they genuinely care about helping you find what you need. If they don't have what you need, they'll offer to order it and give you a call when it comes in - or send you across the street to the other store that might carry it.

Living in this community reminds me so much of the town I grew up in, and the friendly community it was 30 years ago. Today (and every day) I am deeply thankful for small town attitude. Too bad we can't bottle that and sprinkle it over larger towns and big cities.