I was visiting over at Rana's place this morning. She was posting about errands and visiting. She was remembering how when she would run errands in Little Town, the errands would take such a long time because you simply had to visit with folks.
I completely understand this. When we go into town when we are at the SSB, we also end up visiting with everyone. It is so amazing because we didn't grow up there unlike Rana. We are relative newcomers even though G's mother grew up there. We don't face the scrutiny a lot of new faces get because we have roots there. But even so, these people are warm and accepting of everyone - even those foreigners who didn't grow up there.
When we first would go to that area, we didn't have our own house. Far from it. At that time, we didn't have the land. It was still one large parcel. We would go - G would go out hunting twice a day. I didn't think it was safe for me to take the vehicle and make the 45 minute trip to town with him out. That only left mid-day. That didn't work either. Most of the city closes and rolls up the sidewalks at noon.
So I would sit, huddled in the house with one television channel, either grading papers (which were the bane of my existence) or working on some craft project or another. All this while, trying to appease bored children. It was just so much fun. It's no wonder that I finally decided that I really didn't like being there.
Add to this was the fact that we stayed in MIL's house. She is definitely OCD. Everything had to be absolutely perfect, and she certainly deemed me far from perfect. So I would work myself silly trying to keep things even better than when we arrived.
To say we didn't know anyone is an understatement. Now the place is surrounded by relatives, but at that time, there was only one who lived out there on a full time basis. To get to Ruby's house, you had to follow what was euphamistically called a road. It actually was a game trail that followed a dry creek. How in the world this older woman traversed that trail even once a month was asurprise to me, but I know she was on it at least once a week - to church!
We ventured down to Ruby's once. That was enough for me. I was clearly surprised we made it there and back. Now the road has been moved so that it is out of the creek bed. That was probably partially due to the fact that her grandson started a "hunting lodge" which is being generous. But he did have hunters frequenting the place.
Now there are four sets of full timers living there. We visit with them regularly when we are there. We are members of the communty club. We go into town often. We even venture over to the other wide spot in the road (which is larger in actuality than the one closest) much more often. We go to that church when we can, and it has a store that we frequent for corn and their delicious hamburgers!
I never thought I would feel so comfortable up there. The comfort level grows with each visit we make. Being around relatives - both close and distant - is a wonderful thing. It is such a contrast to living here in Swampland.
So now we are planning a New Year's Eve with our true friends at the SSB. Hope yours will be good too.
Peace.
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