Small Town Living Love

I’ve basically only lived in bigger cities.  My earliest memories are from living in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.  From there we lived in a smaller town in Washington (Bonney Lake for those in the know) but close enough to everything to still feel bigger.  After two years there, we moved to Spokane, Washington – second biggest city in Washington.  When I went off to college I was in Portland.  Yeah, other than the two years in Bonney Lake I’ve been a big city girl.

I’ve never felt truly at home in a big city.

I’ve always felt like a small town girl at heart.  I love the slow paced life.  I love the idea of knowing a large portion of the town.  I love walking in a quiet downtown and getting a coffee while waving at friends who are driving by.

When Nate was offered this job I was so excited to finally be moving into a small town.  I looked online and saw their Farmer’s Market, their Lighted Tractor Christmas Parade, the fair.  I was overjoyed!  It appeared to be so much of what I felt my heart was desiring.

I also was scared.  What if living in a small town was just the worst?

We’re ten months in and I’m here to tell you that living here is amazing.  No, it isn’t perfect.  No, it isn’t everything I dreamed it would be.  But it’s amazing.

We got walking into “downtown” and, sure enough, we wave at people we know driving by.  We stop into Walmart or Safeway (our only two grocery stores) and we inevitably run into someone we know.  I took Caleb to Wendy’s a few days ago and, sure enough, there was a couple from our church and they stopped to chat for a while.

The pace of life is so much slower than how Nate and I previously lived.  We plan our excursions into Olympia (the big city) wisely so we get the most out of our trips there.

We’re not a small, country town but we’re a small town nonetheless and I love it.  I’m incredibly thankful for this change in our lives!