Reason Number One. You can find the UPS driver when you need to. A couple weeks ago UPS tried to make a delivery. (I know I was never going to use UPS again, but they were the option for beekeeping stuff we ordered. I probably will never ship with them again.) We have a gate at the entrance of our driveway that you need a code to enter. I had been gone a few hours and came home to a note from UPS indicating they needed a signature to leave a box but couldn't get in the gate because they had no code. I didn't know we had anything coming from them that should require a signature. I just thought they should be able to leave anything just inside the gate. I was wondering at that time if I should "go to town" to see if I could try to find the UPS driver, knowing my chances were pretty good. Well, later I did "go to town" (about a 12 minute drive from my town of about 1,100 to the thriving metropolis "town" of about 3,000?) What did I see? A UPS truck. I was leaving the grocery store parking lot and he had just parked. I went and asked if he was the one at my house earlier and told him where I lived. He seemed to remember me from the week before when he made another beekeeping supplies delivery, and called me "honey." How ironic. . . it was beekeeping supplies and he called me honey. . . how did he know?!? Anyway, he said it wasn't him but he called the other driver to see if it was him. I guess they didn't need a signature, but UPS is cracking down on them for leaving boxes and packages "exposed", which meant they couldn't leave it at the gate. I reluctantly gave him the code to my gate for future deliveries. I guess they wanted it close to the house and it was very heavy, also.
Reason Number Two. You can never "go to town" without seeing (and visiting with) someone you know. Just a couple days ago, I stopped at the little post office to get my mail and ran into the real estate agent that sold us our place. The last time we saw him was a few months before when Steve and I decided "to pop in" on him. . . at 10:00 p.m. and got home at 11:30. He seemed to appreciate the visit. I chatted with him at the post office for about 20 minutes. . . when I told my kids I would be home "in about 5 minutes." Steve and I know when we say we are going to run an errand somewhere in the valley, that we could run into someone we know and end up chatting for a bit, so we don't get too worried when one of us isn't home right away from running that errand!
Reason Number Three. The almost-extinct full-service gas station in town. I had been to the orthodontist in the city yesterday and at a particular spot on the way home we went through a thick bunch of bugs and got bugs all over my windshield. I turned on the wipers and proceeded to make the situation worse. Erik thought it was totally cool. It was the worst bug situation I had ever been in. I thought I would pull into the full-service gas station and see if they could help me in my plight. When I was explaining what happened, the owner said, "and you turned on your wipers and it made it worse," finishing my sentence for me. He then told me that was the worst thing I could do. I said, "well, what was I supposed to do?" He told me I should have waited until they dried because they created a sticky, greasy film on my windshield. How was I supposed to know? He directed into the bay. I knew this was serious because he usually just sprays the window and wipes it off with a cloth! He got out his funky mop that he had in a bucket and scrubbed not once, but twice, rinsing between each scrub. Erik again thought it was cool. I was a little nervous because I didn't think I had any cash and didn't want to put something like this on a card of any kind. I looked in my wallet and offered the owner the $2 I found. He told me, "no charge." I offered again and was told the same thing. I have been thinking about what I could do to show my thanks to this kind man (we know him. . . Steve grew up with his kids and he always asks about our missionary) and I thought, "I will make him brownies." So I did and will drop those off when I "head into town" in just a few minutes to get Erik to guitar lessons.
Reason Number Four. I am part of a quilting group of about 17 of us doing an "I Spy Quilt" where we all make 2 blocks each then exchange them to create a cool quilt. We met for the second time last night to exchange our blocks then return home to do the next step, which is to finish the top. I was one of the last few out the door and discovered a block I believed to belong to my friend, Nanette. I told the lady in charge of the group that I would take it to her. I left about 10-15 minutes after Nanette and decided to drive right to her house so I wouldn't forget to get the block to her. As I pulled out onto "the main road," I thought I saw her van pull in front of me but wondered why she was there and not already at home. I decided to go "the back way" to see if it was shorter than the main road. To my surprise, Nanette ended up going that way, too. I wasn't sure if it was her because she used to have family decals on her back window and this van didn't have them. As we got closer to her house, the driver stopped right in the road and I drove up alongside her, still not knowing if it was Nanette. As I pulled alongside her I could tell it was. When I suggested the block might be hers because it was under the blocks she brought to exchange, she assured me hers was safely at home. Nanette told me she had just been for a drive because she didn't want to go home yet. (don't tell her family!) Did I mention Nanette has 6 kids? Another car was coming up behind Nanette, so Nanette drove off. That car belonged to my friend and fellow quilter, Melanie. I asked if it was her block and she was totally confused. She just stopped alongside me to give me an invitation for a Lia Sophia party she is having next week. Melanie and I chatted for a couple minutes then I drove back to my friends house to return the quilt block in case somebody came looking for it. While there we chatted for a bit and I found out lots of things about her and that her brother (also in our ward) had just had knee surgery. Now, the last I knew, as of Monday night, he wasn't going to need knee surgery.
Ahhh! I love living in a small town. I'm off "to town" yet again. Hmmm, I wonder who I might "run in to?"
2 comments:
I miss that so much! I've always lived in REALLY small towns, and know what you say is true! Now we are just another ant in the maze!
Amen!
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