Here is a link to my home town.

 http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Lewisport,+KY+42351,+United+States+of+America&sa=X&oi=map&ct=title

If any of you actually checked the link you should have been able to tell very, very quickly, Lewisport is a SMALL TOWN.  My wife doesn’t even recognize it as a town, just a highway and some houses.  More of a community.  But it is MY small town.

I haven’t lived there, full-time, since I left for college way back in ’95.  But there will always be a special place in my heart for that place.  There is just somethings about a small town that you don’t get other places.  Here are my top 3 benefits of a place like Lewisport (in no particular order).

1.  A love for local sports:  With nothing else to entertain the people, local sports, from little league to High school, is all the rave.  About every night, you can find a game of some sort somewhere and devoted fans.

2.  Being known by first name at the gas station:  You go in to the store and everyone yells “Hey Shane.”  You never get asked for a picture ID beccause they know you, your parents, your address, and your all your business.

3.  Taking a walk means goin’ visiting:  When you go for a walk in your neighborhood, you are sure to see someone you know.  So you stop and chat.  Usually you wave at people, pet dogs, hug babies…all while on a walk.  No need for an Ipod.

I could go on and on, but here is the catch.  With all these appealing aspects of small town life, I still love living in a larger city.  The familiarity and quaintness of a small town are nice, but I need interstates, Imax theaters, musuems, festivals, book stores, and Starbucks.  I guess that what makes me an official defector.  I left my original country (Lewisport) and have become an immigrant (first in Fort Worth, TX and now in Northern KY).

How long does it take to become a local native in a new land?  Who knows?