Why I Love Living in a Small Town

I grew up in Portland, Oregon. (yes, Portlandia is funny because it's true) Any who, I moved about an hour away to go to college in a small town. While doing my undergrad, people (including me) would complain about how boring it was, how there was never anything going on, etc. After getting my bachelors, I moved a half hour away into "town," AKA Salem, Oregon.

Source

When I first met the Mister, he was living in the small town I had moved away from. He is a newspaper reporter for the local county paper, and covers the town, the college and the local school district. So naturally, I began spending more and more time in the place I complained so much about. When we decided we wanted to buy a house together (gasp! before we were married), we needed it to be in between his office (about 15 minutes from his apartment) and my job in town. That left us with two search areas, and in one (the small town) we could buy a much nicer house on a small budget. So I moved back.

And I love it.

This weekend we headed out to watch the local high school's boys basketball team play for (and win!) the state championship title. There had to be the majority of the town there. It was crazy to see all of the red and black in the crowd.

This was after the final shot and the players ran into the crowd
since security wouldn't let the fans on the floor.

And when I was at the gym on Monday, the game is what every one was talking about. And of course you see signs like this all over town:

Since becoming a "townie" (that's what we called the locals when I was in college) I have also really come to appreciate the small, local restaurants and shops in down town and  I really have enjoyed the fact that the town hosts several festivals during the summer, as well as free concerts and movies in the park. One of my favorite traditions is the 4th of July festival, parade and "mini-marathon" (2.6 miles!) that starts off the parade.

Yes, it is inconvenient that Target is 30 minutes away. It is also inconvenient that our two grocery stores are somewhat small, and I can't always find the products I want.  Its also not my favorite thing to commute 25 minutes each way to work, but I love the sense of community that comes with living on a small town. I love seeing people at the grocery store or the gym or the bank and stopping to chat. And, although I do love my job, I do sometimes wish I was teaching here in our local school district to have more of a connection to the community.

Are you a small town girl, or do you love the city?