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I like the feeling of community, of "everyone knowing everyone," all the small town happenings--bazaars, school carnivals, small town festivals, high school sport games. At these, you run into your neighbors and friends and co-workers and you stop and talk...I guess its the idea of shared memories.
You can be bored in the city just as much as in a small town. People choose to be bored, don't you think? Most people in small towns can and do drive to nearby cities to take advantage of amenities like the shopping and concerts and so on. But there are plenty of things to do in a small town. The schools still have sporting events, the churches still have pot-luck suppers, some neighborhoods have progressive parties or block parties, there are local bands and clubs and fundraisers for the volunteer firefighters and the library and the ambulance service. There are garden tours in the spring, and leaf-peepers in the fall, there are parks where you can go after dark all by yourself for a walk, and country roads to explore on lazy Sunday afternoons. There are secret swimming holes, and there's fishing and hiking and bike-riding, there's the local downtown that shows old movies outside on nice Friday nights, and you can stop by the local feedstore in the spring just to see the shipments of baby chicks and hold them in your hand. There's berry-picking in the summer, and places to fly kites, and washing your car in the front yard with a hose instead of taking it to a car wash. There's neighbors who bring you armloads of cucumbers and tomatoes and corn from their garden, because it's too much for just them, they want to share. So when you make your big batches of gingerbread men at Thanksgiving, you set aside a nice tinful for them. There's visiting the orchards in the fall and sorting through the apples and the peaches to get just the right ones. So I don't really get bored too often, I have to say. But I really look forward to the one or two snow storms a year, when I can stay in my pj's, drink hot cocoa and just watch the snow fall.
They aren't boring because the sense of smallness, sometimes isolation, and the over-all community togetherness (I use this loosely--small towns are definitely not some happy family thing) turns the small into the big. Its one of the things I have realized since having kids--all of a sudden there is so much to do because they enjoy the smallest things. It is sort of the same thing in a small town.
I forgot to mention in my previous post that an important part of my love of rural areas is the lack of people. I really value my solitude and beautiful, unbroken landscape. I lived in a small town in the middle of NH for a few months. It was beautiful but there were too many people! So that is very important for me. I'm not a zenophobe, but I really like being able to take a walk in the woods and not see anyone. But I also like going to the coffee shop and talking with everyone.
There's never a boring moment in my town of 66 residents. We have lakes all around us so there's always an opportunity to fish, swim, boat, tube and ski. There are hundreds of miles of snowmobile trails. There are also hiking, cross county skiing and snowshoeing trails. Shopping is a nice drive on a low-traffic road where you're likely to see moose, deer and small wildlife. Knowing your neighbors, who needs something today, that someone knows and cares that you might need something, it's all part of small town life. Being part of a close knit community doesn't mean you're involved with everyone on a daily basis. We don't see some folks until it's time for town meeting or the kids' Christmas party. In a small town you can be as involved or uninvolved as you'd like.
Like crazyme, I like being able to walk in my woods alone, know I'm completely safe and enjoy what goes on around me.
I live in a town with a population of around 250, and I like that you have both a sense of isolation and closeness here. I can not see either of my neighbor's houses. And yet, I can walk through the fields a quarter of a mile either way and be on their doorsteps. My husband's a volunteer firefighter here, and we know just about everybody some way or another at this point. Just last year a woman called our house when she needed assistance before she called 911.
We certainly don't suffer from boredom. We have 5 state parks within 30 minute drives of us. We can go hiking without even leaving our own property. I think the deer and turkey use our driveway more often than we do! lol
Well, unlike crazyme4878 the reason *I* like living in the country is that when I get home from work at night, I pull in the driveway, lock the gate, and I don't have to see or talk to another person (if do not choose to), for the rest of the night.
Living in the country allows me the freedom of having a large garden, listening to the birds and and other assorted creatures from my deck in the evening without any noise. Noise is a huge issue for me, and I love the peace and quiet of the country.
Since I am a person who lives simply and I am not a "consumer" so to speak, I don't have any problem with lack of shopping opportunities. I go to the grocery store once a week or so and if I NEED something from a store I have the option of going into town or 40 miles north to the Big City where they have everything I could possibly ever want or need. I also shop a great deal on the internet.
I have lived in big cities and in my opinion rural living is the way to go.
20yrsinBranson
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