Thankful # 13

Thankful #13: Small Town Life

I love Fairburn, the city where Anth and I live. I grew up in this town. While living most of my life outside the city limits, my past is entangled with Fairburn's. For starters, my Mom and Mema had an antique shop in Fairburn (in three different buildings throughout the years...2 in Fairburn and one just outside the city limits). I went to elementary school, middle school, high school and attended church in this town. Needless to say, I know everyone in one way or another.
The Old Home Place Antiques was one of the first antique shops in Fairburn and my Mema worked to get others here. I grew up in that antique shop, playing in the storage room when others were in preschool. I spent my afternoons after school with my Mema listening to B 98.5 and talking to all the quirky regulars that came in (explains a lot about why I am so "old"...with my thousand island eatin', sweet tea drinkin', antique collectin' way). I SWORE I would never have antiques in my house. If only I had been a little older--I would have been able to appreciate the time spent there more. Then again, if I had been older, I wouldn't have spent so much time there.
So ending up living in and working for the City of Fairburn was an interesting and unexpected twist. Starting here, I knew or knew of many of people, our histories linking in one way or the other.
And then Anthony became involved in the Neighborhood Watch. It helped him, at first, being married to me. A lot of those people in the neighborhood watch either were friends with my Mema or went to high school with my Dad. But then, Anthony being Anthony, everyone started to love him, as people can't help but do.
It's a nice feeling, driving to work, where I spend my day relaxed, talking to my co-workers--some of who feel like family.
Or going to Oz and seeing at least 3 people I know from when I went to church in Fairburn/went to middle school/high school/work with or have known most my life.
This kind of connection to the place in which you live probably isn't important to most people but to me, it is something I've very proud of. I love to meet someone new, who's lived in Fairburn for fifty years, and find out what their connection is to me, to my family. Inevitably--it is there whether through family relations--or school ties.
Sometimes it's a little awkward--like when someone you went to school with gets arrested and you are present for their first appearance in the jail. Yeah, that's happened a couple of times.
But there are so many perks, so many people who make you feel loved--like the jeweler, who usually fixes my jewelry for free because he's good friends with my Mema, the owner of the antique shop who gave me a killer deal of a set of Franciscan Star Burst dishes for the same reason. Or the neighborhood watch, who came together and bought us a high-chair when Oliver was born. Our neighbors, most of who we've never met, dropping off cards of congratulations, usually with money inside. Or our Mayor--who I'm sad to see go in January--who used to be my Sunday school teacher--who wants to know if I have my baby in the car every time she sees me.

Where as most people have 6 degrees of separation, for me in Fairburn, it's more like 1 or 2. I like this, feeling so inter-connected, being apart of something bigger. Making friends with people much older than me (seems to be the pattern of my life) because we all want the same thing for the town we love--to make it better. Fairburn connects us all, regardless of race, religion, age, etc.
One day when we move, I will be so sad to leave our little community. It will be like leaving a little part of me behind--but then again--I guess that's why we all come together in the first place--to leave little bits of ourselves in something that will be around longer than us.