Community

A small town has its advantages. It can hold you close and nurture you. As a child, that is a very safe thing to have. As an adult, it often becomes intrusive, meddlesome and frustrating. Unless you need to be held close and nurtured.

My hometown was such a place. Five thousand people, two elementary schools, one middle school and one high school. I was surrounded by people who knew me from the day I was born. I was educated by my parents friends. Children that shared my kindergarten class shared my senior year in high school. I have friends that I have known all of my life.

Some of those friends have remained close. Some stay in touch and share the same history. Some do not stay in touch but when I hear their names I know who they are, who their parents were, I can place them and…