Welcome to Small Town, USA

Randi wanted to know about my town. Do you like where you live?

I have lived in this small, rural town in Arkansas for 32 years, and I like it here. Not everyone does. Many of the people I went to high school with couldn’t wait to get out of here and move on to bigger places. Would I live here if all my family and friends weren’t here? Probably not. Would I choose this town as my home if I hadn’t known it all my life? I doubt it.




But we chose to come back here after college, build a home and raise our family where generations of our families have lived and I don't regret it.

Our town doesn’t have a post office or a town square or a main street, but I wish we did. I also have wished aloud for a nice park with a paved walking track and DSL. Still waiting on both. We don’t have a Mc Donald’s, a Taco Bell, a Walmart or a public library. We do have a public school, many dirt roads, a few gas stations, several volunteer fire departments and a water company.












We get our news from our county newspaper. And I think you will agree that wishing people well in the county paper after they have had a colonoscopy is a bit personal: "We'd like to wish John Doe a speedy recovery after his colonoscopy. He got a good report." But that’s the kind of thing you’ll find in our local paper. There’s an entire section dedicated to the Nursing Home and Rehab news. It’s a sort of list of who visited who that week. Each small community has it’s own section and a volunteer who calls in the news each week. If you come visit, don’t be surprised to read that, “Chickadee had a friend she met over the internet visit on Tuesday. Some of us think that's a dangerous way to make friends, but her friend turned out to be a nice, Christian person instead of an ax murderer.” It is newsworthy to be sure.

What some people hate about a small town is the closeness of the people. Some people may call it nosiness, I prefer to see it as looking out for each other. Because my refrigerator is out, my step-father and uncle brought an extra one over on a dolly and set it on my carport for me to use in the mean time. Don’t you find that to be quite neighborly? When we are out in the yard and my neighbor passes by he honks and waves.












People will know the good and the bad in a small town. If you get a speeding ticket on the main highway, everyone will know by that afternoon. If your husband’s truck is seen at a young widow’s house, people are going to ask if you’re having trouble. But if your house burns down, people will bring you food, clothes, money and offer prayers.















I like that I can walk in the woods behind my house, that we see deer in our yard. I like that you can easily find a dirt road, though I didn't like it as much when I lived on one. I like that we see cows, horses, chickens, goats and deer when we are driving down the highway. I like smelling the fresh cut hay from the field across the road. I like that there’s a church every 5 miles.













One thing you will see a lot of in this town are chicken houses. You will also smell them I do not like this part, but it's how people make their living. Even we make our living from chickens, my husband works for Tyson.












The cemeteries are well cared for. Even this old one, with its old, stained and slanted headstones is neat and decorated with flowers. The past is important here. Grandparents and great-grandparents are clues to who you are in this town.












Thanks for stopping by my town. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Honk and wave when you pass by!