I moved from Metro Detroit to a very rural small town near the Lakeshore in west Michigan about 4 years ago. Stuff I love about it:
Calm & peaceful - no rush hour (first time I drove Matt's mom to Detroit with me, we were driving on a 2 lanes each way section of an interstate and there were maybe 8 cars within sight - 'how can you drive in this traffic?'-scared, I said just wait until we get there, five lanes each way bumper to bumper goin' 80!) I _do _ _not_ miss that at all
lots of access to local food (I work off a share at a local organic CSA)
Noise and light pollution are at a minimum - you can hear all the little critters at night and see all the stars in a clear open sky and it actually gets *dark* here!
I love having chickens! They eat all the bugs and we always have awesome fresh eggs
My kids are in much smaller class sizes
There's tons of land to roam. My kids never get bored. When outside is too weathery or cold, they rediscover all their inside stuff
We can go canoing anytime we want.
we can go camping down the road and come home fast if we really need to.
We live in a sandy/gravelly area and going rock picking is awesome! I have found all kinds of semi precious stones, fossils, and even several petosky stones even though we are quite a ways south of petosky.
I just *love* the look of jaw dropping confusion when people find out we don't spank, especially the first time when my ds was just turned 3 and was told he was gonna get one and he smiled like it was some kind of treat lol. He was holding a pretty tea cup and he musta thought it was a cool cup to get a drink since he just always used what ever cups I used. Grandma Peg said he was gonna get a spankin if he broke it and he gave her a big old grin and she just was stunned. She looked at me in confused silence and Matt said, ma they don't know what a spankin is. She took a minute and said oh....pause... well what do you do? We use our words and redirection.....pause....does it work? yep!....pause....ok! wow, I never heard of that!
Matt grew up with half the teachers in the elementary, He walked down the aisle at graduation with the school secretary, he grew up with the Chiropractor and the butcher, he worked at the grocery store when he was a teenager so when he got really sick and didn't have an income, they let him charge groceries when he needed to.
the downsides:
my kids dad is 3 1/2 hours away and it's too bad cuz he's an awesome dad.
hard to make friends at first.
this community is very umm not college prep? I have to call my mom in phoenix to get some intellectual stimulation and conversation or I go nuts.
(the school is really great, it's the adults that have a lack of concern about smart stuff unless it's a motor or building something etc.)
less selection of care providers nearby
less selection of stores nearby - ok for the most part since I always try to buy locally. We're lucky to have a little health food store in town and she can usually order most anything I want.)
I hate walmart - closest big store, 17 miles round trip
Takes sometime to learn back roads, which aren't on most maps, but are much quicker than main roads(to get from town to town)
getting used to the smell of farmers who come to town for lunch, pharmacy, whatever. They often work very hard, and likely in yucky stuff which is normal here, but MAAAAN. now I'm pretty accustomed to it.
Over all I went through some major culture shock when I moved here, like the first time I went grocery shopping, some kid walked off with my groceries and I was like what the f***! but he went to my caaar, hmmm, and loaded my car, hmmm, and I said what's the usual tip? ummm... funny look and off he went back in the store.
Now that I am here I love it. I just wish I could jet the kids back & forth to their dad's at light speed so they could see him more than a long car ride weekend every other week and all summer which is hard on all of us.
He's a dumbass about money and a terrible partner, but he's a wonderful father and a natural teacher, he just doesn't know how to translate those wonderful qualities into an adult relationship.
I ended up here because I looked up my first love from summer camp and I walked in the door and never left.
This is a book. Maybe I should write a real book
