Small Town Joys
With all of the talk about moving to Chicago and apartment hunting, it is finally starting to sink in that I am moving in August. I often times complain about living in a small town and many aspects that go with said small town. There are, however, a few things that I will miss about smaller locations when I move to a bigger one. In the upcoming months, as I prepare to move, I will be highlighting some of the things I will miss most. I realized one thing I would miss as I drove to school this morning. Every Tuesday I leave my house in McBain and drive down to CMU. I tend to leave a little before 8. It puts me on this little, short, bumpy road a little after 8 before I get on 115. This road is not traveled by many people other than who lives on it and the Amish. Every morning, without fail, a little boy would be on the porch of a big house right before the stop sign. Every morning, without fail, he would wave to me. The first couple of weeks I did not wave back. It used to annoy me that people living in a small town felt the need to wave to everyone. He does not know me just because I am driving down his road. One morning, I finally waved back. I have rarely seen a kid smile so big and then wave even harder at the minute detail of a stranger waving from their car. As weeks went on, the boy has always been on the porch. It has come to a point here he is looking for my car and I am looking for him on the porch. Two weeks ago, when I was sick and came home early on tuesday, the boy was outside playing while his family worked on the side of the house. He waved and then pointed to his newly painted house. I waved and gave a thumbs up. Today, I wondered if the boy would look for me on tuesdays after I am not in school any more. It was then, that I realized that I would miss the friendly people of a rural area. I would miss the joy a little boy got out of just waving to people and having them wave back. I would miss simplicity of just a wave.