Don't you think for a minute that when Troy and I announced to our friends and co-workers a couple of years ago we were moving from trendy, happening Chicago to Indiana of all places, we weren't teased and taunted endlessly about it. Well, maybe they didn't mock us verbally so much, but I could see it in their eyes - the sympathetic pity and confusion. But what's there to do? What is there to look at, besides endless fields of corn of course? Well, you can always take the Metra train to the city, they assured us.
Small town life, however (particularly life in this small town), has suited us to a tee. I feel we've blossomed here. Every morning I still wake up and swear we've stumbled onto a secret treasure - a treasure valued for it's quaintness. See the video below (from the show I90 North) for a brief tour of our own beloved Chesterton!!
And then there are the people. I love, love, love all the ladies in my Zumba class - a rockin' salsa infused form of aerobics offered daily at our local YMCA. Without the slightest hint of self-consciousness, these dedicated women of literally all ages, shapes and sizes shake and sweat their way to health having a great deal of fun in the process. I also love the ladies in our growing book club! I love our librarians who know us, and everyone else, by name . I love my girls' ballet teacher. I love the hard-working and super friendly volunteers at our community resale shop and the vendors selling their hand-made, locally grown and produced wares at the European Market held on Broadway St. every Saturday. I am thankful, with all my heart, for living only blocks away from our close-knit Orthodox Parish.
Maybe it is because I've moved a lot that this whole setting down roots thing means so much to me. Interacting often and face-to-face with my neighbors feels right and wholesome, as opposed to the empty and lonely sensation I get from excessive internet surfing (aka "colossal time wasting"). The process of growing and feeding new friendships, here, has been healing and refreshing and inspiring simultaneously. One such family that has blessed our lives is THIS ONE. They are funny (oh my goodness those kids are funny!) and creative and interesting and spontaneous. We've all enjoyed, immensely, getting to know them (see photos below of BFF's, Mary and Mikey)!
Oh man, I heart those pictures!
Well, I promised the kids that before dinner we'd walk to the park. It's the small things, like that, I count on to stay connected (to them, to my community) and to keep the global hysteria, screaming threateningly, ominously through my radio and the screen of my computer, in perspective.
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My kind of town
Don't you think for a minute that when Troy and I announced to our friends and co-workers a couple of years ago we were moving from trendy, happening Chicago to Indiana of all places, we weren't teased and taunted endlessly about it. Well, maybe they didn't mock us verbally so much, but I could see it in their eyes - the sympathetic pity and confusion. But what's there to do? What is there to look at, besides endless fields of corn of course? Well, you can always take the Metra train to the city, they assured us.
Small town life, however (particularly life in this small town), has suited us to a tee. I feel we've blossomed here. Every morning I still wake up and swear we've stumbled onto a secret treasure - a treasure valued for it's quaintness. See the video below (from the show I90 North) for a brief tour of our own beloved Chesterton!!
And then there are the people. I love, love, love all the ladies in my Zumba class - a rockin' salsa infused form of aerobics offered daily at our local YMCA. Without the slightest hint of self-consciousness, these dedicated women of literally all ages, shapes and sizes shake and sweat their way to health having a great deal of fun in the process. I also love the ladies in our growing book club! I love our librarians who know us, and everyone else, by name . I love my girls' ballet teacher. I love the hard-working and super friendly volunteers at our community resale shop and the vendors selling their hand-made, locally grown and produced wares at the European Market held on Broadway St. every Saturday. I am thankful, with all my heart, for living only blocks away from our close-knit Orthodox Parish.
Maybe it is because I've moved a lot that this whole setting down roots thing means so much to me. Interacting often and face-to-face with my neighbors feels right and wholesome, as opposed to the empty and lonely sensation I get from excessive internet surfing (aka "colossal time wasting"). The process of growing and feeding new friendships, here, has been healing and refreshing and inspiring simultaneously. One such family that has blessed our lives is THIS ONE. They are funny (oh my goodness those kids are funny!) and creative and interesting and spontaneous. We've all enjoyed, immensely, getting to know them (see photos below of BFF's, Mary and Mikey)!
Oh man, I heart those pictures!
Well, I promised the kids that before dinner we'd walk to the park. It's the small things, like that, I count on to stay connected (to them, to my community) and to keep the global hysteria, screaming threateningly, ominously through my radio and the screen of my computer, in perspective.
