The fall season lends itself to being grateful. The shorter days provide longer, cooler evenings and, in turn, more time with family. Always making us more appreciative of the things that we have right in front of us.
As I reflect on the last year, I have never been more grateful for the small town in which I live, or the profession of agriculture. I started trying to narrow down the things that I am grateful for, in both agriculture and our small town (and if you’ve ever read any of my posts, you know that I am obsessed with both). I decided on theme for November, thirty days of grateful for my small town, for the thirty days of the month (I know, “ground-breaking”). There are SO many things for which I am grateful, but here is a quick list…in no particular order…
- The sense of community that a small town provides.
- The people that make up that community. Good people.
- Family. And love connecting the dots to what I like to call the ‘Community Family Tree’…how everyone is connected (6 degrees of Kevin Bacon style).
- Where you feel safe enough to let your kids walk down the Main Street in town all by themselves.
- Where the county Sheriff is known by, and adored by the community
- That community coming together to revitalize and make it place our kids are excited to come back to
- The school principal is a celebrity
- The little ‘farmer waves’ that are provided and seen from steering wheels
- The gorgeous Flint Hills of Kansas
- Our local newspaper keeping us all informed of what is happening around town – from high school football scores to where the fire department is headed, and everything in between.
- The “smell of money” (aka cattle poop) and beef is always what’s for dinner
- Where social distancing was a thing, long before it was cool.
Where at Homecoming when your first crush is on the Homecoming Court and you, as a first grader, are the crown bearer and you get to take her flowers…life made. - Where homecoming is an entire community event.
- Everyone in town knows the local veterinarian, she’s as important as the ‘people doctor’ to our well-being.
- All of the things that we create in agriculture.
- Only one school, it’s full of wonderful teachers and everyone knows everyone.
- Where good news travels fast….and bad news travels faster.
- The town mayor shows up and brings his whole family for every town clean-up day.
- Kids playing on haybales.
- Understanding what the people that live here provide for the rest of the country and world
- Saying you will meet a friend in town, don’t really need to say where, you will be able to find each other, no problem.
- Knowing that Thursday is always a busy day in town because that is “sale day”
- Watching the Flint Hills go up in smoke every year.
- Where ‘lifecycle’ and the ‘birds and the bees’ are always a conversation
- Where there is never any traffic
- Cheers ‘Where everybody knows your name’ = small town life
- The highway that runs through town is under heavy construction and the speed limit is still the same
- Where when a family going through a rough time, the restaurants hold benefits and community comes together to help them
- More cows than people
- Where everyone can (and does) make a difference.
In a year in need of finding the positive, what are you most grateful for this year?
