Small Town Charm

If you live in a small town, chances are you’ve seen these gentlemen before. They’re the ones who gather round the coffee pot to share their day and catch up on the goings on of small town living. You can count on them to greet you with a hardy welcome as you walk through the door, and they will shake your hand or give a quick wave as they wish you a good day when you leave. You will overhear their ramblings of local politics and baseball scores (or football, depending on the season), the weather report and their many opinions about this week’s editor’s note in the newspaper.

As I walk into my local diner, I am comforted by their presence. I'm reminded of simpler times when crop reports would have trumped politics, when you would have known who these men were because you knew their parents and grandparents before them. A time when sitting down to enjoy a cup of coffee was an essential part of your day.

And I realize that regardless of where you live – whether city, suburb, or in the country – we all have that local place where we can come together and connect with our neighbors and friends, acquaintances, and those familiar faces you've come to know. A place where even if you didn’t know a soul, you could count on a simple nod of a head when complaining about the weather.

These familiar faces are just one of the reasons I like living in a small town.

Photo: yankeemagazine.com