small town USA

i have fallen in love with small town USA.

its real.

we are in Hiram, OH this week, and I am almost certain we doubled the population when all the kids got here. and it is beautiful.

if you asked me Saturday or Sunday I would have said something along the lines of "I COULD NEVER LIVE HERE!" it was a 30 minute drive in any direction to the nearest walmart, and the walmart we went to had a horse and buggy parking lot for the amish people that live here. (okay, I loved that! but i wouldn't want to live here)

Somehow in between the long drives to kirtland, lack of sleep, and running a special edition... I fell in love with this town.

Some of the reasons...

Everywhere you drive it is absolutely beautiful. green pastures. rolling hills. tall trees.

there is one police man on duty. one. and we have become best friends. story. (yes. police officers are becoming a common occurrence, i promise im not a felon) on monday morning we woke up to find parking tickets on all of our cars. surprise during the week you cant park on the street from 4am-6am on weekdays...who knew? the signs coming into town, not on the side of the road..thats who. So being the loving coordinator I am I had them turn them into me and went to hopefully work some magic. I went down to the police station. no police man. There was a nice lady though who informed me that he was out. "Do you know when he will be back?" she responded. "nope, it just depends on whats going on...you can just look for his car and then you will know he is back." I smiled, gave her my number (even though I didnt have service) and she told me she would give me a call. Well luck had it that I was driving by right when he got back. I went in and instantly became best friends with my favorite police officer Dave. I explained what had happened and he explained the no parking on weekday rules. He then took the stack of tickets (probably 10) and gave me a hard time. "So you are all felons?" my response. "Yes." (he looks at me...) "I mean, no. well yes, we all got tickets, but we are all good people I promise!" he laughed, took me in the back telling me he was going to have to "book me" and then simply told me not to park there again and sent me on my merry way. I have never left a police station feeling happier. I came back and told the story to James while sitting at the solutions table. Not long after our good friend Officer Dave showed up at the solutions table. Just to check that everything was going okay. This was the biggest thing going on in the town. He talked to us for a while and made us laugh. This week has been full of random check-ups and waving from his patrol car. I LOVE HIM! and I have never felt more safe in a town.

People know one another's name. I was at the post office and the worker called the woman in front of me by name. I want that. I want to live in a small town and know everyone. I want to walk into a store and say "Hi" to Gary the checker on aisle 4, and go see Susie the baker who helps me come up with new recipes...perfection

Everyone is soooo kind. A little boy helped me carry boxes into the post office when he saw me struggling. I loved him, and it literally made my day.

They have one stoplight. one. and then a blinking "yield" light. at night the town is dead. it is perfect for late night walks, and just everything...

in case i didnt adequately say this before it is BEAUTIFUL!

today as I drove to a different town to the post office. "Makes me Wanna Take a Backroad" by Rodney Adkins came on and I thought to myself that life couldn't get any better. That was the moment I was completely sold. I want my small, humble, full of character home, in a tiny town in Ohio... where I know all my neighbors, and the police man and I are old chums, and everyone is friendly.

yep. that is the life i want some day. im sold.

also thank you to mary and shawn for the post below.