Love that small, country town charm? Amazed by the residents who know everyone by name and greet even those they don’t? Well, if you truly love it, visit. Often. Don’t’ move there.
I have lived in a small town my entire life and have witnessed many changes; some good, some bad. I have seen the quality of education be held to higher standards, while the quality of life deteriorates. Over the past decade, I have seen our small population grow by leaps and bounds; mostly due to high powered executives and stay-at-home-moms moving into the area. I have watched the rolling hills of farmland be subdivided into “beautiful quarter acre lots” with houses bigger than some small countries occupying most of the property. I have seen these new “country folk” come in and change our town by bringing Pizza Hut and Starbucks.
The bottom line is: our town was just fine the way it was. We don’t mind driving an hour to the closest shopping mall or twenty minutes to the grocery store. We liked being able to sleep with our doors and windows opened and unlocked. We liked walking down the road and not worrying about being run over by a Beamer doing seventy. If you want to see a glimpse of the country life, by all means, visit often. But if you want to make this a metropolis like your old hometown, go back where you came from.
