Small Town Tales

You know you're in a small town when...

So, before we moved to Carbondale, my friend/former colleague Maree gave me the name of an acquaintance of hers who she said I needed to look up when we arrived here. She served on a board with this woman who apparently was very connected in the philanthropic community of southern Illinois. Of course, Maree sent me all the contact information to my ELCA work address and I forgot to forward to to my personal email before I left.

Meanwhile, I'm corresponding with a woman in Cartersville (next town over) about a china cabinet she's advertising on Craigslist. We need one, but she never posted a picture and our schedules never aligned, and I wasn't really a motivated buyer. But now my mother's arriving tomorrow, and Joe's folks come next week and the number of moving boxes still unpacked is wearing me down. So I'm getting desperate and the price is right. And meanwhile still, this woman (whose name I now know from her email) has turned up in the paper as a volunteer for a local charity. Hmm... there's something vaguely familiar here. So, I caught Maree by email just before she and Jimmie were heading to the airport for a week in Italy - yup, Craigslist China Cabinet Lady and Philanthropic Friend of Maree are indeed the Very Same Person.

They knocked $20 off the price, and we got the cabinet home without any scratches or broken backs. A good day in our small town. As Joe says, don't yell at anyone on the road, because they're likely to be your neighbor.

Speaking of small town life... our park is THE social place to be, particularly if you're an adventurous 14-month old. Calla used to be glued to the baby swings, but now she's doing the slide and wanting dearly to climb and jump with the big kids. Here she is, showing off on the play gym and generally giving me a heart attack with her fearlessness.




Anna arrives tomorrow night, so look for pictures of Calla and her Grandma (Sime) next week. Grandma and Grandpa Cheatwood follow next week, so Calla's going to be even more the center of attention for about two weeks. I'm looking forward to more adult conversation during the day, because I'm tired of having the same talk with Chloe and Lilly. Hope you all are well...