Before Thanksgiving, I was going a little crazy here. I didn't have cell phone service, I had to drive an hour to get to any store I'd want to go to, there wasn't anything nearby to do for fun, I didn't have any friends in the community that I could just go hang out with, it's a three hour drive to go visit my friends in Kentucky, and I lived in a school.
Now, I feel completely different about my small town lifestyle. I felt completely at home in Springfield and it was really nice to be around family and friends again, be able to communicate with others easier, and be within a fifteen minute drive of any store I could possibly want to go to. But, although I felt completely at home in Springfield, I was anxious to get back to West Virginia. You know the saying, "Distance makes the heart grow fonder?" Well, that saying holds true for me and my West Virginia home.
I was excited to get back here and not have cell phone service. It's annoying at times but it's provided me the opportunity to have a lot of pen pals, get to know my co-workers families when they call our center phone, and have more time to think about what I want to be doing once May comes and my contract is over.
I was also anxious to get back to my families here in West Virginia. I didn't realize until I left that I do have family here, too. I care about them and they care about me. It felt really nice to get back to my hardware store and hang out with them again. A definite positive about living in a small town-business owners know who I am and care about my well-being and also have the time to help me figure out what to buy when I'm stuck. I was also anxious to get back to my cooks. I don't have much of an opportunity to get really close with my morning cook because she's here from 5 am-8 am and I'm either on my hardware run from 6:30-8:30 or managing the volunteers from 7 am-9am when they leave for the worksites. But, I have gotten really close with my evening cook. She's here from 3 pm-7 pm most nights. My evening cook loves to gossip (small town style), makes me soup when I don't feel well, and got me a Christmas present. She's been a great person to talk to about my future after May. She's really supportive of us because she knows how demanding our job can be at times. It was really nice to get back to our cooks. I don't foresee many opportunities to have a similar relationship with someone I manage in the future.
Before Thanksgiving, I was really frustrated that I didn't have much to do on the weekends. This weekend, I was reminded of that when Friday afternoon rolled around and my co-worker looked at me and said, "So what are you going to do this weekend?" I literally had nothing on my schedule for this weekend. At home, that never happens...ever. What was I going to do? Turns out it was a great feeling to not have any plans for the weekend. It gave me an opportunity to relax, clean, take care of myself, talk with my mom and sister for more than ten minutes, take my time to write my pen pals back, and have some quality bonding time with my new staffer. It felt so nice to not have to rush around this weekend. I think that's definitely another positive of living in a small, isolated town.
Another positive about my small town-my church. At home, I haven't felt as much of a connection with a church as I do down here. There are so many people at my church and, at times, it just feels like I'm following a routine. Here, my church is so much different. Yesterday was the first time I went to church since before Thanksgiving. I work a lot of Sundays so it's really difficult to make it to church because the only service is at 11 am so by that time, I'm usually working. There are usually about fifteen to twenty people at each service so I've gotten to know them pretty well. When I woke up yesterday, I saw that it had snowed again so I didn't think church would be that crowded. When I pulled up to the parking lot, I saw two cars. I walked inside and one of my favorite parishioners was talking to the priest in the center of the aisle and one other woman was sitting in a pew. "Where have you been hiding?" That was the first thing I heard when I walked in. "In Pennsylvania," I told them. The priest and my favorite parishioner asked me about how my visit home was and how work was going. It's so nice to feel like I have family within my church, also. There were eight people at mass yesterday, including the priest. So, when it was time for the homily, the priest didn't do his normal routine of walking in the middle of the aisle. Instead, he came and sat in the pew in front of all of us and gave his homily there. Then, he did something that I never saw in church before. He said, "Well, that's what I think. What kind of thoughts do you have after those readings?" It was a nice change to be able to discuss during a homily. Then, when it was time to say the Our Father, the priest invited us all to the altar. We all made a circle, held hands, and said the prayer together (that part isn't new-we do that each week it's just that we usually do it in the middle of the aisle). After that, it was time for the peace offering. Every week at this church, instead of saying, "Peace be with you" and shaking the hand of the few people around you, everyone walks around and hugs everyone and says "Peace be with you, ____." They usually add something else in there also like "How's the hip?" or "Nice to see you again." It's very personal. After that, instead of going back to our seats, the priest said for us to stay where we were. We then passed the communion around to each other and wine. Then, the priest gave the final blessing. I can honestly say it was the most personal mass I've ever been to and I'm really grateful for it.
I'm no longer frustrated with living in a small, isolated town. It's certainly a lot different from home and it's kind of hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that I'm completely comfortable in Springfield and Brenton. Living down here also means more road trips. When everything is an hour away, it doesn't seem like a big deal to drive three hours. So, this weekend, one of my friends from the summer is volunteering in Jonesville, VA so I'm going to go to the food bank Friday morning and then drive to Virginia to see her. Next week, the three staffs are meeting in either Virginia or Kentucky and, if it snows, we're having a toboggan race (we have to build one this week). Should be a lot of fun.
Well, I'm off to visit some houses. There's a group coming in from Duquesne University in February and one of my community contacts asked me to help them find some projects to work on. I'm excited because there were certain families that I wanted to work for but the projects were too aesthetic. Since we're an emergency home repair ministry, it was hard for me to justify picking those homes but Duquesne can work for them!
Talk to you all later!
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