Remote Living, Part 8: Carrying On

You thought we were done with this, didn't you? Nope.

There were a few more questions, and I am not the woman to leave any question unanswered. 

How long did it take you to develop relationships with people in town? 

No time at all. This is the most welcoming small community I have ever lived in. People would stop and introduce themselves to us at the post office, or in our yard if we were outside, or on the playground. Integrating into a community is much easier if you have children, because of course you are immediately part of the school community. (Assuming you're not homeschooling.) And in a small place, the school is the hub of everything.

That, and church. We met almost everyone in one of those two places.

But here is where I have to give some general advice about integrating into a small community: For the first year or so you live there, listen, don't talk. You are coming in as an outsider, and no matter how friendly the locals might be, no one likes to feel as if they are being judged. If you come into a community and immediately start trying to change things or organize things or whatever, you run the risk of coming off as critical of the place you moved to.

We spent the first year we were here just figuring out how everything worked, who everyone was and how they related to everyone else, and then we let our place in the community develop from there. Eventually, we were asked to take jobs or serve in various capacities at church. That is when you know you have been accepted as a community member.

Do you have get togethers with other families? 

Not really. But that's mostly because I'm an introverted homebody. We do have other kids over to play, or we'll, say, go to our neighbors' house because they have sparklers or something for kids to play with, but it's not like there's some kind of monthly family gathering or anything. People are generally so far apart here that something like that is difficult.

Do you find some people go to town more than others?

I haven't really asked anyone this particular question, but I get the impression that almost everyone goes to town more than we do. I think the local people are so accustomed to driving long distances that they think nothing of taking their kids 90 miles for swim lessons. I, however, really dislike driving long distances, with my kids or without them, so I'm willing to go without a lot to make our trips to the Outside World less frequent.

So much road between us and my beloved seltzer.

Have you ever considered maybe having one family go every other trip and getting groceries for each other?

Although I think this is a great idea, it's not something we have done. For one thing, that would be a TON of stuff in one trip for one person, especially given our large family and the amount of animal feed we buy. For another, A. almost always makes grocery trips in conjunction with another errand, like getting the dogs their rabies shots or buying hay.

I've heard of some people on Facebook posting when they need something and asking if anyone is going anywhere where they could pick it up, but that's like a prescription or something, not hundreds of pounds of groceries and animal feed.