I have only lived in three houses my whole life. The first one I was too young to recall much about it. All I can remember was that It was a three story town house with tan carpet. My family lived there for a year after I was born so I never had much of an opportunity to get to know it.
The next house I lived in was a five bedroom, three bath, house off on the side of a stereotypical suburban community. We had a fenced in yard, sidewalks connecting every block of the neighborhood, a community pool, and a rather close commute to any of the stores we might need to go to.
We lived there for close to 17 years. The house was perfect for my family. It backed right up to my elementary school, there were tons of kids around for us to play with, and every day during the summer we went to the pool from when it opened to when it closed. My brother and I even got our first jobs there when we turned fourteen. We worked in the snack bar, and later became lifeguards once we passed our certification classes.
Just this past year my family made the move to a new piece of property not far from where we use to live. But strangely enough the move has had a major impact on my personal preference of where I like to live. Originally I preferred to live in a city somewhere, but now I prefer nothing more than to live in a small town like the one I am in now.
We are now 15 minutes from the closest store. There is only one stoplight in all of our town (with the exception of two lights that run from 6:00 am- 5:00 pm while school is in session) and the houses are so far apart you wouldn’t know your neighbor if you checked out behind them in the grocery store line.
As awful as living in a town like this might sound, it truly is one of the best things ever. People seem to be so much friendlier when you pass them by in the local supermarket or eatery. People with large home gardens set up roadside stands offering fresh fruits and vegetables for a fair price, all relying on the honor system to put your money in a small wooden box since nobody has the time to sit by the table all day.
The high school is probably the pride and joy of everyone here, so being from the rival school makes it slightly more difficult to get to know everyone. Nonetheless, the school here lets you know what kind of town you live in. It offers classes that teach students skills like farming, caring for livestock, and even driving tractors. There are recreational leagues for young kids to play in and lots of small family owned businesses with proprietors who genuinely are interested in getting to know their clients.
This house is not my first and surely won’t be my last. However, after my experience here in a small town, I can wholeheartedly say I will never want to live anywhere else.
