Out teeny town may not have a Target or a Trader Joe's, but there's a delicious coffeehouse on the corner of main street and the farmer's market is pretty great, too. We don't have a good place to get clothes, but there's a fantastic secondhand store where most of our furniture has come from. There are no stoplights, no walking trails, no tall and gorgeous buildings. Nothing manicured like a suburb.






When I visit the suburb I grew up in, I always notice that the trees look older, neighborhoods more shady, houses are looking dated, shopping plazas are more run-down, and streets are under construction. It hit me while I was on a walk the other night that we don't have that aging issue here in small-town life. The houses are already vintage (most of them super cute), the trees are already wizened old giants, and the shoppes are tucked into main street with big store-front glass windows and awnings from the 1950s. It's pretty nice that we are sort of preserved this way. I love that life here has a do-as-you-please feel to it, with a polite small-town friendliness. And I do love that the roads are quiet, and we can play out in the street on a nice night.