Country Livin

Today I took the kids to the mall to buy a handbag I saw the other day. Smiley is still sick but we needed to get out of the house. On the way there I got to thinking about the differences living in a small town as compared to a big city. The pros and cons of living in the town I live in (about 1,000 people total live here). My brother doesn't understand why we live here and probably never will. I lived in Ft. Worth Texas until I was 15 and then my folks moved me out here. So I'm gonna tell you what all went on in my head on our 55 mile (one way) drive. Well, not all but the things that have to do with this.

Pros:

1. No traffic. Ever. Sometimes I get stuck behind a tractor but they usually pull over.
2. 70 mph speed limits everywhere.
3. It's real quiet here.
4. The house I live in would easily cost more that $250,000 in a big city but we only paid $90,000 for it and have 5 acres of land.
5. You pretty much know everyone or know their family.
6. Trees everywhere. They are so pretty right now.
7. Back roads everywhere. Me and Hubby love to go ride back roads together.
8. Really friendly people. About 8 years ago we had a real bad ice storm and a lot of the people in Texarkana were acting horrible. The people here were driving around with chain saws in there 4x4 trucks helping others. The other day a neighbor on my street hauled off a tree that had fallen on my property just to help out. I didn't even ask him too. He called me and wanted to know if I wanted him to for free because he knew Hubby was working so much. Everyone waves too when you drive past them.
9. The air is a lot cleaner.
10. Country boys. Gotta love em.
11. Oh ya, Don Henley from the Eagles lives here. I could be behind him at are little grocery store and would never even know it.

There is so much more but I don't want to take forever.

Cons:

1. It takes a good hour to go shopping somewhere other than Wal-Mart. Don't get me wrong, I love Wal-Mart but not for everything.
2. Everyone knows your business, unless your a hermit like me.
3. No park for the kids here. We have to go about 50 miles to get to a good one and a crappy one is about 20 miles away.
4. The only fast food joint we have is a Dairy Queen and it is sooooo slow. The closest Taco Bell is 20 miles away.
5. Only 3 real restaraunts, and we only like one of them.
6. Log trucks. They are everywhere. There is a paper mill about 30 miles away.
7. Old ladies that can't even see over the steering wheel driving 40 in a 70.
8. All the suicidal deer. I swear they wait for cars so they can run out in front of them. We have hit 3.
9. No neighbors for the kids to play with. We are really spaced out here.
10. Lack of jobs for Hubby. He always has to drive at least an hour one way to go to work.
11. And here is the worst. The closest beer store is 25 miles away! We live in a dry county.

That actually took me a while to write the cons. I love living here and wouldn't move back to the big city. I did when I was 18 but only stayed 4 months. I love raising my kids here and hope they do too. It bugs me when people think we are just country bumpkins or rednecks because we do live here (my brother thought that about Hubby until he get to know him). I love the line in Sweet Home Alabama where he says "Just because I talk slow, doesn't mean I'm stupid." I've lived in both and this happens to be the place we chose to live. An hour to Texarkana, an hour to Longview, and a little over an hour to Shreveport, LA so we are still pretty close to a lot of fun stuff.

So, do you live in a big city or tiny town like me? Which would you prefer?