I finally made it home—minus my beloved Dodge Neon, plus a Saturn SL. As you might imagine, my little excursion can and will be used as blog fodder.
A couple of days ago, while staying with a good friend and his wife who live close to the city in which my car broke down in, my friend's wife let me borrow her car so I could go retrieve all of my personal belongings out of my Neon before it was carted away. My friend and his wife live in a town of about 300 people in central Nebraska. As I headed out of it, I ended up having to wait quite a while for a train. The train couldn't have been going faster than 5 or 10 mph, and it seemed like the longest train in history.
As I waited, and continued to glance down at my watch, a man in a truck pulled up behind me. Then another man in a truck pulled up behind him. Before long, the one in back pulled up along side the other man. They rolled down their windows and began to converse. Then they began to throw their heads back in laughter. I don't even think they looked up to see if the train was ever going to come to an end. They were completely content in the moment (or block of many moments). I thought that was so cool.
As a single guy, I think I'd go crazy in a small town since I'm so used to going out on the weekends, but small town life definitely appeals to me. I like the way everybody waves at each other, how everybody looks out for each other, and the slower pace. And I really like the way everybody knows everybody—in a way, it validates each individual rather than everybody just blending into a mass of humanity.
I'm sure small town life has its draw backs (gossip and nosiness being near the top), but I didn't see many the past few days.
