Walking Down Memory Lane

Today I went on short hike with my girls up the the corner marketplace. It is just a little over a mile from our house. We talked the whole way there and back and it made me remember all the fun trips to the country store in Tropic, Utah when I was a kid.

It was always one of the best parts of visiting my grandparents. I and my cousins or my siblings would walk the four blocks to the store where we would spend our money on candy, silly toys or fireworks. Then we would hurry home to share and play. Sometimes we would even take a couple of trips in one day. There was just something about being big enough to make the trip without our parents and spend our own money. They always had penny candy and candy for a nickel, so even with my limited funds there was something I could afford. The store clerk knew our grandparents and would recognize who we belonged to. I can't count all the time I got asked if I was Richard's daughter. It felt like home even though we were only there for a visit. People would wave to us when they passed us in the cars and we would wave back and laugh, because we had no idea who they were, but they seemed to know us.

When I think of living in a little town this is what I think of. I like the idea of people knowing my kids, of the safeness of walking to the local market, and people stopping to say hello and wave. Our city is growing and I don't even know that we will stay in this town, but I like the way the community has a small town feel. Here people still wave. Here we can walk to the store.

After I bought the girls each an ice cream sandwich and we started back home I couldn't help but smile. Maybe it is still possible to have a little bit of the small town life. Maybe there are people who still want to take the time to remember you and send a smile your way.