His Take:
For the first part of my life, I was very lucky to live in what is, to me, the best city in the world, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. Okay, technically it's a town, but you get my point. With a population of just over 18,000 it had a fantastic sense of community, neighbors that helped neighbors, and most of all, it had heart.
When you tell someone that you come from a small town, people usually picture stereotypical towns they've seen on TV or in the movies. Places like Mayberry, Cabbot Cove, Stars Hollow, Twin Peaks and even Pawnee, Indiana. Most people picture a town full of people like the characters that populate those TV shows, but they couldn't be further from the truth. Countless actors, actresses, scientists, athletes, astronauts and even presidents have come from small towns. Yes, most towns don't have astronaut training centers or Olympic size swimming pools, but you would be surprised how innovative people can be when they don't have the resources for something that they really want to do. Career-wise, you can be anything at all. Even though you're not surrounded by skyscrapers and millions of people, doesn't mean that there's no need for doctors, lawyers, artists, laborers and entrepreneurs, to name a few.
Let’s take a look at some urban legends that some people believe about small towns:
“There’s nothing to do”: I’m sorry, but you’re mistaken.
You might not be able to bungee jump off a skyscraper or hijack some random parade, but if you take the time to look, you’ll find countless things that you can do that will amaze you. You can take a walk in a park, swim in a lake, check out local stores and shops where people that work there will actually TALK and get to know you so that they can better recommend things that you’d be interesting in buying. Just about every town has a fitness place or even a YMCA, so if that’s your thing you’re definitely covered. Hayrides, water skiing, ice skating, going to movies, visiting a library, hanging out at a coffee house or bar, going out to eat at nice restaurant, going out to eat at a greasy spoon, gardening, roller skating, bowling, the list is endless!!! And hey, with the advent of things like Uber Eats or Lyft, you can have any kind of food delivered to your door in minutes. I’m not even going to list things like reading, taking part in your favorite hobby or playing video games. Most importantly, you can take part in LIFE. Most every town offers some kind of get together where you can meet new and interesting people. There’s church functions, clubs of all kinds, book discussion groups, tons of fun stuff to do all while getting to know your neighbor and making new friends. But let’s get one thing straight, friends. Cow Tipping is NOT a thing. Cow’s don’t sleep standing up, horses do. And if you think your going to go “Horse Tipping”, be prepared to get a very painful, and severely broken, nose.
“I can’t make the money there that I can here”. I’m gonna say this is 40% true, but not really. You have to figure in the cost of living. No, you might not make high six figures working in a smaller place, but when you figure in that it costs way less to live in a rural town, you’re pretty much making around the same amount that you’d make in the city. And, you don’t have to sit for hours on an inbound highway or sit next to a guy holding a Gatorade bottle of his own urine on a train or bus. The house I grew up in was 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, it had a full basement and sat on the best ½ acre lot that ever existed. It sold for $28K not too long ago. The house I live in now has 4 bedrooms,2 & ½ bathrooms, a full basement and it sits on a 1 acre lot. Houses that are similar around us that are similar have sold for anywhere from $700K-$1.2 million. Not to mention everything from gas to groceries are much, much cheaper. You may have less dollars, but your dollar will definitely go further.
“There’s no other ________s in small towns!” If you’d have made this statement in 2005, I would’ve said “Well, you’ve got a point, there”. But in 2018, I gotta say “Sorry, Charlie. Not true in the slightest.” You can find people of every race, color, creed, sexuality, religion, height, weight and shoe size. Unfortunately, people who look/act different might get giggled or stared at, but tell me that doesn’t happen in big cities. It’s an unfortunate fact of life that hopefully one day will change.
I almost choke every time I say this out loud, but I have now lived longer in the western suburbs of Chicago than I have in my hometown. But that’s okay, because I took that little town with me. I don’t know when I’ll move back there, but I know for sure that I will, and it’ll be that much sweeter because it’ll seem both new and familiar at the same time. I’m not saying that living in a small town is BETTER than living in a city, it’s just………no, wait. Yeah, that’s EXACTLY what I’m saying.
Her Take:
Wow. Ok. I grew up in the same small town as Jimmy and, here’s the kicker, I never left.
I’ve carried a lot of shame with me for never branching out and … I don’t know, ‘making a go of it in the big city’? Wearing a sensible but fashionable jacket on a city sidewalk and throwing a beret in the air? Ok, admittedly I don’t really know what it would be like and, by extension, what the shame has been about. The point is that I was TODAY YEARS OLD when I realized that I can let that go.
There’s this largely unspoken expectation when you’re growing up in a small town that anyone with even an ounce of ambition will definitely move away to the city. If you don’t at least WANT to do that, you’re - let me be a little indelicate here - a moron. Because ANYONE who’s ANYONE understands that you have to be at least simple, if not a full fledged mental deficient to settle in the little town and love your life.
It’s not just acceptable to say terrible things about your little town, it’s expected. If you don’t walk around from the age of 12 telling all of your friends that ‘AS SOON AS I CAN GET OUT OF THIS STUPID TOWN I’M GONNA BE ALL FREAKIN’ TAIL LIGHTS!', you’re the weirdo.
That’s kind of a shame, right?
Don’t get me wrong, I did that, I’m just realizing now that I was wrong.
File that under Better-Late-Than-Never.
Maybe I was ashamed because I thought that not wanting to leave made me a coward.
Sure, I’ll buy that. Leaving would have been scary. I can barely shop in an unfamiliar Wal-Mart on vacation, how could I possibly survive in a world where I have to (shudder) find my way around all kinds of totally new places?
But, here’s the thing: life takes work no matter where you go. Even though I live in my parent’s house - they moved, give me some credit - I have LIVED, you know?
I’ve traveled, changed jobs, met new people, cut crappy people out of my life in ridiculously over dramatic ways, had hangovers, made poor choices, seen a homeless person hork up a phlegmball at a bus stop, all of the cool city people things.
And, I’ve driven the twenty minutes it takes to get to the middle of nowhere from my house and stood in a place where there was nothing to hear but the sound of wind in the trees and the lazy hum of insects.
So I’ve lived.
And now, thanks to my best friend who is too far away, but who’s heart is always here in our small town, I can release my shame over being a small town girl and live some more.
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