I was talking to a friend earlier who lives in Houston, and she'd just had kind of a scary moment at Wal-Mart (you know, when you're walking to/from your car and you feel like someone is watching you and you wonder if they're not going to grab your purse...or worse). Tiredly, she said, "you must love living there. Tell me, do you just love it?" Honestly, yes. I love my little life in this little town. Let me tell you about my little life...
...we live 2-3 minutes from James' job, so there's no commute time. He leaves for work about 5 minutes before he's supposed to be there, and gets home not too long after he gets off work. We literally eat breakfast, lunch and dinner together most days.
...usually, James takes Noble to school and I take Kayci. Summer is a little different, though, so on the days that Noble goes to school Kayci and I drop him off on the way to her swim lessons. After we drop him off, most days we go by Sonic and buy my daily water with lemon from Ms. Nellie. Every morning Ms. Nellie brings me my drink and we have some variation of the same conversation. Kayci thinks it's cool that it's the same every day, and frankly, so do I. When we get to the Aquatic Center, we're usually greeted by the same lady that's greeted us for the past 3 summers, who's also the same lady who handles our reservations for birthday parties and whatnot. The staff at the Aquatic Center is always friendly, and usually familiar. :) We can't go to the pool without seeing at least one family we know, so it's always fun.
...we go to the recycling center about once a week, and Mr. Curtis is always there. The guys who help him out change daily, but he's always the same.
...we don't go to the post office that often, but when we do, we know we're going to see Mr. Monte--and we know that Kayci is going to pick the stamps. It's just the way it is.
...when we get pictures developed, we go visit Ms. Nicki at HEB. She's from Houston, too, and came here to raise her children, who are now grown. She gets a kick out of our kids' pictures, and she's always helpful.
...when we go to WalMart or HEB, we see the same people at the door and visit with the same managers and...you get the picture. We have a couple of friends who work at HEB, so it's nice to visit with them, too. And we know which checkers will give Kayci extra Buddy bucks, which apparently is a big deal. Even though we never redeem the points, but that's another story.
...it's the same with shopping or eating downtown--you build relationships with the people who work at and own the businesses, and in a lot of ways, you depend on each other.
...when you have someone service your AC or plumbing, there's no stress about billing. They know where you live, they'll bill you later. Heck, I had a plumber who didn't even get my NAME before he did $350 worth of work. I thought I was going to have to track him down and force him to take the money!
...the schools are big, but feel small...and they're great schools.
...our neighbors look out for us, and vice versa. Have I mentioned that I love, love retired folks and hope to always have some for neighbors? It's GOOD to have someone minding your business, and I mean that!
...even the guy who pumps my gas (yup, full service at the Shell) is the same every time. I'll admit, though, to wondering if he actually works for the Shell or if dummies like me pay him a buck to pump gas we're perfectly capable of pumping ourselves...but he seems to enjoy visiting and you know I'm a people-pleaser. :)
I could go on and on. Just now, a friend and I were talking on the phone and we decided that they'd come over here for dinner tonight since we were both planning on experimenting with new kinds of burgers (black bean for us, Greek something for them). I don't know that I would have offered a spur-of-the-moment invitation like that before we moved here...life moved at a totally different pace when we lived in Houston, and with James' commute and my work schedule, dinner wasn't ever a sure thing. We sure didn't plan a menu, or worry about eating fresh food. Of course, in fairness, we had a personal chef--my Dad. :) But the point is, I wouldn't have been able to decide last-minute to have friends over for dinner a few years ago. That's not a small town thing as much as it's an attitude thing, and I have to say, I much prefer my attitude now to my attitude a few years ago. I had to be honest with the friend who's coming over--I told her that there are some spots on my dining room floor, and they'll be there when she gets here, too. I just wanted to put that out there in case a not-so-pristine floor was a deal-breaker for her.
There are, of course, things I'd change about my life--it's not perfect, and neither am I. By far. And perfection isn't a goal of mine, either, if you're wondering. I just aim for 'good enough' and hope to hit it most of the time. In a perfect world, I'd spend less time working and working around the house and more time with my family. Or maybe I should spend LESS time with my family and more time working...it seems like I'm always behind! Anyway, life's not perfect. But it's darn good. My house isn't always clean (have you been following along?) and my work's not always done, but my kids are pretty happy and so is my husband. And you know, I'm pretty darn happy, too. It's been a horrible year and a wonderful year, all at the same time. I wouldn't trade what I've learned for anything...it's all about keeping the first things first: faith, family and friends. Living in a small town, living a small life, allows us to do that.
The stork came yesterday and delivered our 3rd child. Nah, not really--this one was about $400 less than the original, so it really wasn't that bad. :) I have resisted the upgrade and held out for video. When we found out the 3GS would have video, James and I just said, okay. We went last week to buy it (I had called ahead to make sure they had it, but bonehead that I am, I asked about the wrong phone...still not quite sure how that happened!) and ended up paying for it and ordering it. Yesterday I got the e-mail that it was in, so we went buy last night to pick it up. I also decided yesterday, coincidentally, that the AT&T store around 5:00 is its own little Purgatory, so I will not be going there again when everyone's just getting off work. But I digress...long story short, it was worth the wait. The Maps app alone was worth the purchase price. You can keep your GPS--I love, love my iphone Map. The video feature is also sweet--it's got like a mini imovie, you can edit it right there on the screen, which is just crazy cool! So, well, well worth the price of admission. If you, too, have been holding out, I'd say go play with one. OH! And the video? You can e-mail it...or send it to your YouTube account. How awesome is that?? This phone is going to make my teachers so happy--think about all of the cool things I'll be able to post now! And the kids videos for the family...this is going to be so fun!
