Sweet Home Wisconsin

I live in a small town. A very small town. The population is about 1,000 people. There are four churches and four bars downtown, so we have as many bars as churches, which is pretty standard for Wisconsin. There is a vibrant small school district in our town, which is where I work. There is a gas station, a handful of small businesses and some of the nicest people you will ever meet. I love our town. When I was growing up, my family moved a lot, so I didn't really have a hometown. We mostly lived in cities. While Air Force bases definitely feel like small towns, the population turns over every few years, so it not the same as growing up with the same people and knowing them your whole life. I realize that to some people a town of 1,000 may not sound THAT small, but to me, it certainly did.

When my husband and I were engaged, we decided to buy his childhood home and settle down in his small town home town. I continued to teach in a town about 45 minutes away until a few years and two babies later. When I did start teaching here, I felt like overnight I became a local. I went from knowing very few locals to knowing more than my husband. Now, our kids go to school with the kids of some of my husband's classmates. They will have a few of the same teachers. They will grow up in a place where most people know them and care about them. People look after each other here. I love that. It doesn't mean it is perfect here, because it most definitely isn't, but I feel like I belong. I feel like it is MY hometown now, too. It's a good feeling.

Now that I have explained the background I can get to the ACTUAL slice of today. I had a meeting at the high school today around lunchtime. When I was done, I stopped downtown to mail some things at the post office and grab lunch to-go at the cafe. Five bucks for a homemade BLT isn't bad. As I walked into the cafe, I felt like I was in a scene from the movie Sweet Home Alabama with Reese Witherspoon--the scene towards the end of the movie when the lawyer goes to the town diner and asks about how to find Reese Witherspoon's character. All of the locals, including the town cop, turn and look, disapprovingly assess the stranger and basically give him the cold shoulder. They do not help him find Reese Witherspoon. As I walked through the front door today at the cafe, the locals turned to evaluate. I walked up to the counter to put in my order and exchanged pleasantries with the town cop. Totally reminded me of that scene from the movie.

On the walls in the cafe, there are rows and rows of coffee mugs with names on them for the regulars. I do not have a coffee mug here. YET. I guess that is what happens when you live in the country...you aren't local enough for a personalized mug.

I like being a part of this small town and feeling like the people here are looking out for my family. And they really are. I have seen enough proof of that in the last eight years. While I may not be a "true blue-born and raised here-local, I like to believe I am an adopted local. It's nice to belong. And if a stranger rolls into town looking for me, I'd like to believe the locals would be suspicious and protective and pretend they don't know me...just like in the scene from Sweet Home Alabama.