Small Town Girl

I am not sure exactly how it came to be, but as much as I love the thrill of experiencing different places/towns/cities/countries, I am still a small town girl at heart.  Sometimes I wonder if a "love for the city" or a "love for the country" is written in our DNA before we were born or if it blossoms out of our experiences as we grow/learn life along the way.  For this girl, I think it was a little of both.  

Growing up as the oldest of three in a tight knit second generation Brazilian and third generation German immigrant family, I spent a lot of time with my immediate family and also with families that my parents knew growing up (who also spoke German and Portuguese).  My family lived an hour and a half north of NYC and would travel every Sunday (for many of my childhood years) to the church my parents grew up in:   http://www.immanuelchurchny.org/our-history/   It was a great place.  I have many fond memories of strong community with the people from the that church; memories of many events at their homes, at Nassau Beach and also one of my favorites - our annual camping in the Catskill mountains.  


Another contributing factor to my love for small town / country type living comes from growing up in a townhouse community in Beacon, NY.  This townhouse community was not like it is in town-home communities today.   Everyone knew each other.  All the kids grew up playing together throughout the complex - outside every possible day we could!  We had birthday parties there, went to the same community pool, rode bikes around the complex and also to school.  We would go sledding on the two small hills in the winter and rush to the ice cream truck or eat ice pops on someones front steps after catching lightning bugs in the summer.  Certain smells in the air can bring me instantly to that time / place in my childhood.  My parents worked hard to be in that townhouse.  I am thankful for that and for them.  

So, while I love visiting the city and all its action, my heart is in all of the small towns of America - where community is strong - where life is measured by relationships and not anything more than that.  I love walking down the Main St. of small towns, talking to the shop owners and watching all the different people. I guess that is why I love tv shows like the Waltons and Gilmore Girls - and why I live where I live now in Garner, NC.  It is a town that has that small town charm - where you can get the best cup of coffee around the corner at Aversboro Coffee and you can get the best home cooked breakfast/lunch at Angies where everyone is treated like family.  

I know that wherever we end up living - whether it is here in Garner, NC or someplace else down the road, we'll always live in a place (as the theme song from Cheers so nicely puts it) "where everybody knows your name" because it just feels more like home.

See you on Main Street in Anysmalltown!

Tschuss,

~Joyce