Small Town Life in the Big City

I grew up in Ellinwood, KS...population about 1000.  Growing up in a small town was great...I knew everyone, always knew that if I needed anything that there were countless friends and neighbors that I could go to, went to school with the same 46 kids from Kindergarten through Senior year (with a few that moved to town in between...and boy was THAT exciting...we loved new kids!), and always felt at home walking around town.  I went to K-State (slightly bigger town, but still a nice small town feel) and then moved to Kansas City when I graduated.  I have to say that I was not really sure what to think of living in "the big city."  Yes, I enjoyed the amenities (malls!  Target! restaurants!) but I missed walking down the street and being able to say "hi" to people I knew and running into people on Sunday after church at the local pizza place.  There was a sense of community that was missing in my early years as a Kansas Citian. 

But, as the years have gone by, I am happy to say that we have found our "small town" right in the middle of Kansas City.  I think part of what made that happen is our neighborhood.  We live in Brookside and we can walk down to the Brookside shops and see neighbors and friends eating at Jalapenos or shopping at Price Chopper.  We go for bike rides on the Trolley Track Trail and see people we know out walking with their kids and/or dogs and everyone seems to smile and say "Hi." 

And having kids brings on a whole new level of community.  We've made great friends that are the parents of our kids' friends, we've met new people each year thanks to new schools and classes, and we've added tons of events to our social calendar that revolve around the kids.  We go to parks and see kids we know with their parents, we have had wonderful playgroups and now sports teams.  We feel like our kids have a "village" to help raise them between our friends, their wonderful schools, and our church, and I wasn't sure we would find that here in this big city back when we had our first baby. 

Our last and most important community that has given us our "small town" within this big city is our church.  The first couple of years we lived her we church-hopped and tried out a bunch of different churches.  We finally settled on one and it has been such a blessing for us.  We have had our kids baptized there and new we are so happy to have our oldest in our church's school.  There are so many events that provide fun and fellowship and we seem to meet someone new every time we go to one, but yet we also walk in and are surrounded by people we know and love and we know that we could count on for anything. 

My advice to anyone who feels lost in a big city is to put yourself out there and try to find those little communities that will make you feel like you belong.  Get to know your neighbors, go to all of the social events that your kids' schools put on, find a great church and get involved, and get to know people. 

We truly do feel like we live in a small community within this big city.  We have all of the advantages of living in a city, but yet we still can walk down the street and see people we know, we are always bumping into friends at restaurants or out and about,  our children will go to school with the same small group of kids until graduation, and we have a great group of neighbors and friends that we can count on if we ever need anything.  This small-town girl never thought it would be possible!