Small Towns
I grew up in a tiny community. I lived on a farm and the 'town' I went to school in consisted of the elementary school, the general store/gas station/restaurant/pub/post office/video rental store (yes all of this in one building), a volunteer fire department, a community hall, fairgrounds and less than 10 houses.
So when my grandpa and I went down to see our relatives in Bassano (pop 1340) every year, I felt like I was visiting a big town. They even had a swimming pool, and some of the streets were paved! You could have rollerblades there (roller blades were a very cool, but unattainable thing when I was growing up, due to the gravel roads). When I was about 14 we moved to Auckland, New Zealand which introduced me to urban living and I haven't looked back much, until last weekend.
I went to a family reunion in Bassano. The big town of my youth. One of the second cousins who lives there is only a year younger than me, and we used to play when grandpa and I visited. He is now married and his wife is pregnant. He farms in the summer and works the rigs in the winter. He has never lived anywhere other than Bassano. That rocked me a little bit... that could have been my life. Had my parents not moved with dad's work when I was a teenager, I could have been caught in the small town circle of life... there are worse things, but I am glad I am where I am.
To end off, and amusing tale about another second cousin who has lived in Bassano her whole life:
Kendra is 9 or 10 years old. We had been at my dad's cousins place for a bbq the first night of the reunion and I decided to head back to the campsite where my immediate family was staying. Kendra decided to accompany me on her bicycle. As we were wandering through the streets (it was dark, totally quiet, no traffic, you could hear the crickets kind of quiet) Kendra commented that it was very quiet for a Friday night. I said "oh" wondering to myself what a normal Friday night in Bassano sounded like. She filled me in, "Normally there are these two trucks that drive around making noise."....
Oh small town Alberta, how much I miss the simplicity, how glad I am that I got out before I was one of the girls in those trucks thinking that was what a Friday night should be.
So when my grandpa and I went down to see our relatives in Bassano (pop 1340) every year, I felt like I was visiting a big town. They even had a swimming pool, and some of the streets were paved! You could have rollerblades there (roller blades were a very cool, but unattainable thing when I was growing up, due to the gravel roads). When I was about 14 we moved to Auckland, New Zealand which introduced me to urban living and I haven't looked back much, until last weekend.
I went to a family reunion in Bassano. The big town of my youth. One of the second cousins who lives there is only a year younger than me, and we used to play when grandpa and I visited. He is now married and his wife is pregnant. He farms in the summer and works the rigs in the winter. He has never lived anywhere other than Bassano. That rocked me a little bit... that could have been my life. Had my parents not moved with dad's work when I was a teenager, I could have been caught in the small town circle of life... there are worse things, but I am glad I am where I am.
To end off, and amusing tale about another second cousin who has lived in Bassano her whole life:
Kendra is 9 or 10 years old. We had been at my dad's cousins place for a bbq the first night of the reunion and I decided to head back to the campsite where my immediate family was staying. Kendra decided to accompany me on her bicycle. As we were wandering through the streets (it was dark, totally quiet, no traffic, you could hear the crickets kind of quiet) Kendra commented that it was very quiet for a Friday night. I said "oh" wondering to myself what a normal Friday night in Bassano sounded like. She filled me in, "Normally there are these two trucks that drive around making noise."....
Oh small town Alberta, how much I miss the simplicity, how glad I am that I got out before I was one of the girls in those trucks thinking that was what a Friday night should be.