Adventures from Rural America

[hamster]

Expect this to become an ongoing series of mine. It will be a two parter for the introductory post. 

So, as a reminder, we bought H's childhood home. We live off of a rural side street. All in all, there's maybe a couple of dozen houses in our "neighborhood." Many of the people who live on this street have lived here since H was a kid. Needless to say I'm the new kid on the block.

Part 1: I'm out front spraying weeds this afternoon. I can feel the eyes of every car driving past. Who is she? What happened to MIL and FIL (there was never a For Sale sign). I'm ignoring it, and then some guy rides on a bike. Staring. I wave, cause that's what we do out here. He asks if I'm H's wife. Um, yes. He tells me his name (I've never heard of him). He's got a young aussie pup with him who is afraid of my sprayer. So he has me come out and show him that me, and my sprayer are friendly, and give him a treat. LOL. I let him know my dog may bark at him, since he was inside, and he asked what his name was. I said Wyatt, and he's a yellow lab. He said "Oh, like (the name of H's childhood dog.). And then we parted.

Part 2: The other day, we were at the nearby grocery store. Some cashier comes up and tells H hello and how she hasn't seen him in 15 years. We've been there intermittently for at least 10 to get beer on the way to MILs or what have you, and he had no idea she even still worked there. 

[petitefrite]

Do you like these experiences? I don't know if I would enjoy it or feel smothered. Maybe a bit of both?

[hamster]

Apr 27, 2015 22:37:20 GMT -5 petitefrite said:

Do you like these experiences? I don't know if I would enjoy it or feel smothered. Maybe a bit of both?

I'd have to say both. The friendliness is refreshing, but I told H we can't live here after the grocery store incident

And rural America is an exaggeration. We are 10 minutes from a town of 50,000 and a metro area of around 200k and a major state university.

[gibbinator]

Lol. Dh's old babysitter works at the liquor store here. She always tsk tsk's him (good naturedly) when he buys a two four.

[LoveTrains]

So its more like suburbia?

[Deleted]

Lol! My H loooooves "being known" either in the town we live in or he goes home. The lack of anonymity sometimes drives me nuts. Then again, yesterday I happened to sit next to a woman whose brother is the reason my family moved to this state (he hired my dad in the 1970's). We happened to sit next to each other at a funeral in a super small town in random MT. Small worlds, you know?

[shortstax]

These are the things I miss, lol.

[Deleted]

I recognize all of this! I almost miss it. Whenever I go home it's always you must be a (insert last name). Then they proceed to try to figure out where I fit in the family tree and tell me how our grandparents use to live 3 miles apart, you know by the old stump that looks like a raccoon.

[jillboston]

There's something to be said for growing up in a small town. No need to use a signal as everyone knows where you are going.
I get weirded out when I go home to visit and everyone knows me but I can't remember them bc they were adults when I was young and now old or other kids who have aged so that I have NO clue who they are anymore (wasn't there while they aged)

[Balki.Bartokomous]

Oh, I kind of like this!

When DH & I started dating, I took him to my grandma's old place (my dad still owns the land, though she'd passed) to show him where I had some really happy memories. It is outside of a town of about 7K people. As soon as we got there, the closest neighbor comes out & starts eyeing us up. I'm eyeing him up because who is this stranger on our property? Lol. We eventually talked, but it was nice to know that someone was keeping an eye on the place.

[elocrates]

It really is both nice and irritating, isn't it?

I grew up in a small town and LOVE the anonymity of living in a bigger town. Going to the grocery store without getting stopped to chat 4+ times, driving down the road without the occupants of at least 3 cars waving frantically at you, going anywhere without somebody calling you later asking where you were going (these still happen when I go back to my hometown, haha). However, having kids now, it would be nice to have that many people (the whole town, really) looking out for my kids and keeping an eye on things.

[irene adler]

Dh eats this shit up when we visit my hometown of 1100.

"Hey, are you Irene's dh? Come drink a beer in my garage and let's get to know each other! "

[Ashley&Scott]

Some days I miss small town living.

[shortstax]

Apr 28, 2015 14:30:31 GMT -5 elocrates said:

However, having kids now, it would be nice to have that many people (the whole town, really) looking out for my kids and keeping an eye on things.

I have this thought often. Here in the city there's no "village" to help raise my kiddos.  Maybe once they start school this will change.

[wise_rita]

Apr 27, 2015 22:49:13 GMT -5 hamster said:

Apr 27, 2015 22:37:20 GMT -5 petitefrite said:

Do you like these experiences? I don't know if I would enjoy it or feel smothered. Maybe a bit of both?

I'd have to say both. The friendliness is refreshing, but I told H we can't live here after the grocery store incident

And rural America is an exaggeration. We are 10 minutes from a town of 50,000 and a metro area of around 200k and a major state university.

Rural card REVOKED!

/grew up in a town of 1000 people

[StJess80]

Apr 28, 2015 23:45:51 GMT -5 wise_rita said:

Apr 27, 2015 22:49:13 GMT -5 hamster said:

I'd have to say both. The friendliness is refreshing, but I told H we can't live here after the grocery store incident

And rural America is an exaggeration. We are 10 minutes from a town of 50,000 and a metro area of around 200k and a major state university.

Rural card REVOKED!

/grew up in a town of 1000 people

One of my close friends lives in a town of less than 1000 people, and I grew up in a town of 500k+. Well right now I live in a suburb of the same town, and I think the population is something like 19k. Whenever something "small town" happens to me (last week I drove down the street to get Alissa and I saw 3 separate people that I know driving on the same street-so cue the "honk and wave.") and she always laughs at me and says it doesn't count. I know it doesn't count (you can't even tell where the city ends and the suburb begins) but it makes me giggle, especially when I get stuck behind a tractor going down the road.

[wise_rita]

Apr 29, 2015 13:08:16 GMT -5 StJess80 said:

Apr 28, 2015 23:45:51 GMT -5 wise_rita said:

Rural card REVOKED!

/grew up in a town of 1000 people

One of my close friends lives in a town of less than 1000 people, and I grew up in a town of 500k+. Well right now I live in a suburb of the same town, and I think the population is something like 19k. Whenever something "small town" happens to me (last week I drove down the street to get Alissa and I saw 3 separate people that I know driving on the same street-so cue the "honk and wave.") and she always laughs at me and says it doesn't count. I know it doesn't count (you can't even tell where the city ends and the suburb begins) but it makes me giggle, especially when I get stuck behind a tractor going down the road.

Rural card partially restored.