Small Town girl.. PYHO and Wordful Wednesday

I am a small town girl. I know this to my very soul and core. I love my small town life and the people in it, for the most part. But mostly, I love how we have made time stand still in our buildings and history, yet stayed modern on the inside. We have learned that progress is only progress if it makes life better or improves it for others. But small town kindnesses can’t be progressed. We have mastered the art of helping our neighbors and random acts of kindness. It is a small town way of life.

We see the beauty in our history, even if it is loaded with not so great truths about where we stood in certain beliefs. But we stood. When we lost we did so with dignity and grace and still proud that even if we picked the losing side we stood proud for what we believed in.

We believe true riches are found in the small mom and pop businesses that line our main street. Filled with the history of yesterday and the modern conveniences of today.

Life is slower here. We appreciate things more because we take the time to drink it all in. From the view of the sunset over the high school parking lot, that stands aside a family farm instead of another modern building. Or the intricate craftsmanship of a stained glass window, made in the 1800′s and maintained with care and love by the village that houses it.

We walk down our streets without fear or trepidation. We look in shop windows at items from our history with longing and want. Instead of tearing down and building new, we refurbish and polish up the old. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. A motto we live by. We appreciate the stillness of a warm day in the midst of winter, when the sun warms the benches that line our streets, inviting you to sit a spell and warm yourself from it’s rays.

Where a trip down the main street will show you our past, present and future in less than a mile. Where old houses go from salt box to grand estate and reside side by side in the grandness that is small town living.

I love that. I have been in the big cities. The cities that are trying to bring back the feel of the main street, by redoing what wasn’t broke to begin with. I have seen it for myself and I still came back home. Where my roots are. Where I belong. Because while I love the simpleness of my small town, and I could spend all day wandering it’s few streets to discover secrets I have missed in my time here, I also love that 3 blocks away the buildings fade away and green pastures open up. Hills are visible and the sun settles on one of them for bed. We have it all here, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. This post is part of PYHO