Life -- Whether Rural, Urban, or Suburban -- Is What You Make of It

Heads Creek Reservoir
The City of Griffin's Water and Wastewater Department's Reservoirs
 are open to recreational fishing year round

I was over the stress of city living and needed a change, thus a small town seemed like the best option.  So, in October of 2016, I called my real estate agent and the search began.  At the end of April in 2017, I moved into my newly-purchased home in Griffin, Ga., a small town 52 miles south of Atlanta.

Small communities have the same range of characters as anyplace else, but they tend to concentrate the eccentricities, the way a good stew celebrates all its flavors. Unless you’re hell-bent on solitude, small towns compel involvement. The smaller the town, the more everyone’s pitching in.

The corollary of all this engagement, of course, is that everyone tends to know everyone else’s business. That bothers some people, but it’s also a window into worlds so often closed off in larger communities, where people tend to live homogeneously—by income, by race, by age group.

In Griffin, we all come together, and many of us are apt to stop and have a conversation with whoever is in line with us at Kroger or Food Depot. We also acknowledge one another passing by. When John Donne wrote, “No man is an island,” he surely had small town life in mind.

The downsides to living in a small town ... the closest Trader Joe’s is an hour away! Indian, Thai, and other ethnic restaurants are at least 30-minute drive. But that's life ... at least there is no traffic and I can park - free of charge - downtown!

A slower pace, no traffic and free parking ... I think I'll stay here for a while.