Small Town Living

I was reminded the other day why small town living is so wonderful and I just had to share it with anyone who reads my blog who has never had the experience. We live in a town (Brandon) which is a burb of Sioux Falls. Brandon's population is under 6,000. Sioux Falls is the largest city in South Dakota and has a grand population of about 140,000.00. (Sturgi's brings in four times the population of Sioux Falls every year with the motorcycle rally~ crazy) Recently, Tom sent in a check to the motor vehicle department on several of our vehicles/toys. We received the tags in the mail with a hand written note from the clerk. She explained that a new plate was necessary for the jet ski trailer so the amont was incorrect. Not wanting to hold up our tags she paid the $4.00 and could we reimbursed her. Now mind you, as far as we know ~ we don't know this person. It goes right in line with our garbage man who will come up to the house and bring the cans down to empty them if they are outside and haven't been brought down to the street. How about our post office who phoned us to say a package we had sent to Phoenix got there but somehow the address to where it was going was gone so Phoenix sent it back and could we come over and put an address on it and they would over night it back at no charge! The builder who built our home plowed our drive every winter on his bobcat for four years without ever being asked or accepting money. When Tom was t-boned in the Jaguar by the high school he had a half dozen of our neighbor's stop to make sure he wasn't hurt and offer to take him home or to work the next day. I could go on and on about the wonderful way people in small towns will go an extra step and not think anything of it. They expect nothing back from their extra effort. It is just a way of life. I am always amazed at the trust they have and the kindness they show. It's a slower pace of life. All the intersection lights in Brandon and most in Sioux Falls turn into yellow blinking lights at ten at night (blew my children's minds). The airport has no out going flights after 9:00 p.m. The majority of streets are 30 - 35 miles an hour. In Brandon as like most of Sioux Falls, the big event at the beginning of the school year is the first high school football game. Everyone in town turns out for the game. The day is full of events. Tom his father and I participated in the early morning 5K. For $5.00 (which went to the booster club) we taped down a blanket in the bleacher's to stake out our area for the big game. Raffles and food went on all day with face painting, track and field events. The game started with a helicopter landing in the middle of the field. Out jumped a local big shot with the game ball. During half time a real live huge pig was rolled out onto the middle of the field and it was auctioned off with the services of having it processed!! Kind of creepy but all the money went to the high school since the local farmer and butcher had donated the pig and services. This day of events brought the school a good deal of money to support their sports and clubs. It is what people in small towns do. They support each other and have a good time while doing it. In a country that can seem so crazy and makes me question if Rome is burning ~ I have found this small piece of sanity where people still wave at each other while driving by (even if they don't know you), will stop what they are doing and go out of their way to help you and still believe that most people have enough integrity to be kind and trust worthy.