Adjusting...

Part of the adjustment after moving somewhere new is getting used to a new community.  As long as I can remember, I have lived with my family in sprawling suburbia - in several states mind you, but still similar settings.  We always lived in neighborhoods with hundreds of houses (or so it seemed at the time), with grocery stores and gas stations and libraries close by car, a mile or two or ten away, a few close enough to walk to if you planned in advance.  But still, the area was... sprawling and full of people.  After living in Fairwood for over 14 years, we would run into people we knew occasionally when we were out and about - maybe even three people at the grocery store.  But the community was big enough that you could easily go somewhere and not recognize anyone, and it was normal to live, work, and play in three completely different communities surrounding Seattle.  Last year when I was living at home in Fairwood, I worked 40 minutes North in Bellevue, coached for a youth symphony 15 minutes South in Maple Valley, attended church 10 minutes East in Kent, and played in an orchestra that practiced on Mercer Island (25 minutes North) and performed in Seattle (40 minutes Northwest) and Burien (30 minutes Southwest).  

Then in June, I was welcomed to Deer Park, population 3000.  To some extent, the situation is similar.  Many people live in Deer Park but work in Spokane, which is also sprawling.  But the many miles of farmland and rolling pasture separating the two cities seem to make Deer Park more isolated from the big city and connected as its own small community.  It is not unusual for us to drive into Spokane once or twice a week to go to a big store like Walmart.  But when we are in Deer Park, life is definitely "small town".  

We live in a neighborhood of sorts.  But in small town fashion, everything is right here.  We can walk to the doctor and dentist in three minutes.  It takes just as long for us to walk to the post office to get our mail (no mail delivery! - a first for me) as it does to get in the car, start the engine, back out, drive down the street, park the car, turn off the engine, and get out.  Last week, I hopped on my bike from home, ran three errands-bank, grocery store, and redbox-and was home again in a matter of 20 minutes, including travel time.  Some times we even walk our water bill down to City Hall and hand it in over the counter to save a stamp.  It is rather convenient, I must say!  

But the part of small town life that continues to shock me is the people.  I have only lived here 4 1/2 months, but I see people I know everywhere!  Two weeks ago, Caleb and I went on a 1 mile bike ride around town late one Saturday afternoon to go to the farmer's market.  It seemed as if almost every person we passed by yelled out "Hi Caleb".  We ran into 6 different families that we know.  An older couple called out from the doorway of the butcher.  We met a couple from church in the grocery store parking lot and they showed us their new rental car.  A group of kids on bikes hollered from the pizza parlor porch.  We felt like celebrities!

When I walk into the bank by myself to deposit a check, I just hand it over to the teller, no deposit slip required.  They know who I am before they even read the check.  It will be hard to adjust to the waiting in line and filling out deposit slips if we move out of town someday!  

What still continues to surprise me is going to the library, trained as I was to use the automated self-checkouts on the other side of the state.  I feel like I am bothering the librarians when I want to check out, but they don't seem to mind!  In fact, when I walk up to the counter, they automatically retrieve any DVDs I may have on hold, before I open my mouth to tell them my name, as well as the ones for my husband...and sister-in-laws...and brother-in-law...and mother-in-law...and father-in-law :), even though I don't have a clue what their card numbers are, and they let me check them all out for them!  I feel like I'm spying on other people's lives when I go to the hold shelf to retrieve my books, because everywhere I glance I see names I recognize - today just glancing at two short shelves looking for mine, I saw holds for three families from church plus the middle school principal's family.  As I got in the car, I began to mull over the idea for this post; on my home, I stopped in at the post office and ran into a homeschooling family I know from Homelink.  Just recently, I also encountered at the post office the principal from Homelink, the youth pastor from a church in town, and the senior pastor from a church in town, all whom I know by name.  That reminds me, the first week I lived in Deer Park, I had a doctor's appointment, I showed up (and got called Mrs. Fatt instead of Stapp because of receptionist's phone transcribing mistake!) and the doctor said she had seen me walking with my husband to the grocery store the night before.  Small town!  

We enjoy the sense of community here - we stop and watch five-year-old soccer matches at the field when we bike by, we frequent the farmer's market, we play ping-pong with the local teens who hang out at the community youth center after going to high school football games every once in a while.  It is a unique feeling to feel connected and a part of the community.   

Well, I'm still getting used to this whole blog-writing thing, so this may have been a rather boring post to read.  Hopefully though, it was insightful about suburbia girl adjusting to small town girl!

And on an unrelated note, Caleb cooked a delicious Spanish Chicken and Rice Casserole tonight for dinner.  He would like me to note that he did tweak the recipe a bit by omitting the pimento, using brown rice, and substituting home-grown green beans for the bell pepper.  Highly recommended!