Small Town

The good and the bad of a small town?  It is hard.  It is good.  It is great..and it makes me humble!

I would have to say hands down that our hardest transition has been living among ‘all’ the people.  ‘All’…as in every socio-economic level.  In a small town we live with each piece of the pie, as it were.  In California property was so expensive almost everyone lives with those making a bit less than them and a bit more than them and hence…there is not that big a difference between them all.  Oh, it felt like there was a ‘difference’ at the time…but let me tell you, there was not.  In a small town, it is oh, so different.

At my school down the street the little kids there are like little kids everywhere…they want to run when they are supposed to walk, want to shout when they are supposed to be quiet, some start each sentence as if we’ve already been talking while others must be coaxed into talking at all…and yet…they are only alike when they are in school.  At home, some are in foster care, some live in a shelter, some live with Grandparents because Dad is in jail and Mom is drugged up…  Some eat mostly when they are in school and others are going to Disneyland for Christmas, some live with Mom & Dad and most of their extended family live in town, too and are professionals, business owners, farmers, professors and the like.

Living among ‘all’ the people…where they have a face and a name…can break your heart.  The desire to care for others, who have less, it seems to be second nature to the people of this valley.  Their generosity and caring is like none other.  When there is a need they do not point at what should be done or decree who should do ‘it’…they just get busy and get the job done.

On Black Friday the Food Bank burned down.  The FISH (Friends in Service to Humanity) Food Bank was started by the local churches here many years ago to identify and meet the needs of the hungry in Kittitas County.  FISH serves meals 4 times a week  and provides food to a large number in this community.  This affects many…so many of our own…

The food bank burned down Friday and on Saturday there was a plan in place and the food was flooding in…  Hot meals would be served at one church…at another church the boxes of groceries would be distributed.  At our church an emergency meeting of session to assist with a large financial donation from a small church.  People stepping up to help people….it is a good…and humbling way to belong.

Today our little church manned every Salvation Army kettle in town…our small moments of bell ringing is nothing, but a drop in the bucket or the kettle.

I think living in a large city is easier…but this living in a small town…it is better…better for me.