Susan Crandall | For the Love of a Small Town   
Comment and Win!

July 27, 2009

Comments

35 comments posted.

Re: Susan Crandall | For the Love of a Small Town   
Comment and Win!

I grew up in a small town and I now live in another small town. There are many wonderful things about small-town life, but one of the NEATEST ever was begun 2 summers ago when a group was formed to create a new park by our library. Several of us formed a committee and opened it to anyone who wanted to join. What is so amazing is that we raised well over $75,000 in less than a year from the citizens in town as well as the small businesses. Others gave by doing jobs or donating materials at cost. Truly wonderful and amazing---my little town and our new park!
(Deb H. 8:26am July 27, 2009)

I live in a suburb of a big city. It's not like the small town I grew up in, but I imagine the sense of community here is better than in the larger city itself.
(G S Moch 8:51am July 27, 2009)

I live in a small town, and have for almost 15 years. It's close enough to the state's capital city to allow us access to 'city living' if we want. It's small enough to have only one high school and events like ice cream socials on the courthouse lawn. It's not perfect, but it sure is nice!
Just bought Seeing Red, by the way, and cant' wait to read it. Love you books.
(Kara Conrad 9:11am July 27, 2009)

Susan, your comments really resonate with me. I still live in the town I grew up in and remember when it was a smaller place. When I was a kid, you could go outside after dark and see the night sky so well, see tons of stars. Now, there is so much light pollution that you have to drive miles out of town to maybe see a few stars. Makes me sad and nostalgic for "the good old days."
(Kay Martinez 11:36am July 27, 2009)

I have always lived in the suburbs but I do enjoy reading stories set in small towns.
(Maureen Emmons 11:39am July 27, 2009)

I grew up in a small town and live in a village near that town. The village I now live in is where my grandparents lived and my mother grew up. My kids love living here much more than they did the small town.
(Barbara Hanson 11:48am July 27, 2009)

I loved small town life growing up but escape to a big city for College. I came home after College. The small town is there but is part of a suburb of a bigger city. All the small towns are disappearing it is such a shame.
(Annetta Stolpmann 12:53pm July 27, 2009)

I grew up in a very large city, Los Angeles. I think being in a small town, knowing everyone would have been wonderful
(Sharon Nelson 2:33pm July 27, 2009)

Oups.. I was born and spent the first years of my life in Paris... wish it could have been a small town though !!!
(Joeelle Jappissont 3:02pm July 27, 2009)

Never lived in a small town. I grew up in the city and still live here. It's nice because you can stay anonymous in a big city, but it's very crowded.
(Jane Cheung 4:43pm July 27, 2009)

We lived in a number of suburbs in two different states when I was growing up, so I have no home town or attachments to any place. My parents made an effort to keep us in the same school districts so we could attend one high school until graduation. I like the access suburbs provide to a big city and it's amenitites. I can understand the appeal of a small town provided there's good employment opportunity.
(Anne Muller 5:05pm July 27, 2009)

Interestingly enough, my town was big but it seemed like a small town because we weren't as mobile then. We did everything within our neighborhood and a neighborhood is it's own small town.
(Sandy Miresse 5:41pm July 27, 2009)

My husband is from a small town and the first time I visited it I was amazed! All the people were so friendly and helpful and knew everyone! His mother knew we were in town before we checked into the small hotel. Before we got a chance to call her to let her know we arrived...just from our license plate! Was great!!! I just love visiting there...reminds me of "Mayberry RFD" show.
(JoAnn White 6:40pm July 27, 2009)

I grew up in a small town and when I got married we bought a house in another small town. I loved it and so did the kids. Everyone knew everyone, you could trust your next door neighbor with the key for emergencies, the milkman still delivered. Now we live in a big town, we had to relocate when my husband was laid off, and you don't even know your neighbors' names
(Diane Sadler 6:45pm July 27, 2009)

Hi fellow Hoosier! Love your books!
Marjorie
(Marjorie Carmony 7:28pm July 27, 2009)

Thanks everyone for your comments! It's so true, there is a lot of good in both city and small town living. Some of my character have real issues with not having the anonymity of the city.
(Susan Crandall 8:47pm July 27, 2009)

I grew up in a small town where everyone knew everyone. I now live in a small town where hardly anyone knows anyone. Everyone stays indoors and watches TV I guess.
(Karin Tillotson 9:16pm July 27, 2009)

Where I grew up you could leave the doors open and feel safe letting your 9 year old child run the streets till the street lights came on at night. Now my father lives in the same house and he has double and triple locks on his doors and sees people selling drugs in front of the same steps I used to play dolls on. It's so very scary how the world changes.
(Tami Winbush 9:47pm July 27, 2009)

I grew up in a small town of 13,000 where everyone knew everybody else's business. News travels fastest in small towns.
(Alyson Widen 10:56pm July 27, 2009)

I was also born in a small town, by default, since my mother, like all pregnant women, and my grandmother were evacuated from Berlin because of the danger. However, I grew up in a series of cities. It wasn't until 1995 that I was able to return to the town of my birth and by then it had grown by quite a bit. I think in some ways I would have preferred living there, but the circumstances didn't permit it. I certainly would not have liked growing up in East Germany. I'm so glad that I grew up in a city in Canada instead where my father had more opportunity to get a job.

Thanks, Susan, for the many enjoyable books about small-town life you've written to date. I hope you write many more.
(Sigrun Schulz 11:02pm July 27, 2009)

There is nothing like small town living.
We have always lived just outside
town. The town we live near now has
3 festivals a year that are a lot of fun.
From May thru September, they have
free music concerts on Main Street.
Hundreds of people set up their chairs,
bring picnic suppers, and enjoy the
music and visiting with friends.
(Patricia Barraclough 11:20pm July 27, 2009)

I didn't grow up in a small town, although my father did, in Indiana, no less (Logansport)! My mother grew up in a series of small cities on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, which now all run together and go inland for about ten miles, even after Katrina!

However, even here in Madison (WI), there have been a lot of changes. When I was five years old, the city limits ran down the middle of our street. They are now 10 or 11 miles further out. What was once a 13 mile drive to the (then) small town of Verona, is now a 2 mile zip on the bypass to the "Business 151" exit to the city of Verona.

Since Madison is built around 5 lakes, our expansion choices were either upwards (multi-storey buildings) or outwards (urban sprawl). We've kind of done both, but there are limitations to how far upward one can build in downtown Madison. By city ordinance, no building within X radius of the state capitol building may be taller than the shoulder of the dome of the capitol. That guarantees that people all around the city who are lucky enough to be able to live within view of the capitol, CAN see it!! It's great!

Later,

Lynn
(Lynn Rettig 12:13pm July 28, 2009)

I didn't grow up in a small town, but I lived in a smaller town for my college years, and for a couple
of years after. Even after I moved I would return because my inlaws were still there. There's
something reassuring knowing that even though you might not know people or remember them,
that they remember you. Even 20 years later, and 10 years past the time my last inlaw passed away
when there was a death in our family we got cards from the people in that town who knew us when!

While I like living in a big metroplex I could be quite happy in a small town too!
(Sandi Shilhanek 6:49am July 28, 2009)

I live in a small town and have most of my life. We used to have a store when I was a kid, our bus driver would sometimes stop and let us get out and get gum or candy on Friday. I grew up where you were taught to respect your elders, be proud of our country and our veterans and go to church on Sunday. Miss Edith would make snow cream for you if you cleaned off her steps and Mama Gray always had a glass of cold water for a bunch of barefoot kids hot and sweaty from playing red rover in the church yard.
(Joni Mayhugh 10:55am July 28, 2009)

I grew up in the big city and now live in a very small town. Sometimes, I think there must be a happy median somewhere.
(LuAnn Morgan 12:01pm July 28, 2009)

Sad to say that our lovely little neighborhood went downhill after we left. Two years after we moved, the people who bought our house destroyed it. We went to visit and saw the front door hanging off, garbage everywhere, our fence was knocked down, there were broken windows... so sad to see. That house was hand built by the original owner in the early 1900's... and the people after us destroyed it... :(
(Colleen Conklin 12:42pm July 28, 2009)

I left the small town where I grew up about 10 years ago. Isold my house and moved on. When I was growing up there it was a simpler and more innocent lifestyle. Summers were spent riding around on your bike and playing with your hoola hoops. There was no air conditioning and neighbors actually cared for each other. Technically, it was a borough of New York city, close to the suburbs, but we acted like it was a small town. We also had block parties during the summer. I miss those days. Now it is so different there, that it is unrecognizable. At least I have my memories which are priceless.
(Linda Cacaci 1:10pm July 28, 2009)

I've lived in small towns, large towns and no towns at all. I think your community is what you make of it. Currently we live in an older neighbor hood in a suburb. The people who live within the neighborhood act as a community much like a small town.
(Anne Jones 1:13pm July 28, 2009)

I am a city girl who moved to a small town a year ago. The pace is much slower, and everyone knows everyone else. I like being on a first name basis with the bank teller and others. Not sure if I like everyone knowing about all my business.
(Vikki Parman 2:31pm July 28, 2009)

Loved all of the thoughts on sizes of hometowns. It looks like we're all focusing on the positives of where we currently live. Bravo for us!
(Susan Crandall 4:20pm July 28, 2009)

I love small towns, the only place I would ever want to live anymore. Right now I live in a town of less than 1000! I have lived in small, medium and larger areas, never anywhere huge but I think it would destroy me to be in the frantic atmosphere!
(Sharla Long 11:49pm July 28, 2009)

I never lived in a small town.
Most of my life was lived in
Dallas or it's suburb of Mesquite. And for a year & a half, we lived in Houston. The older I get, the more I
wonder if we didn't miss something by living in the big
city. Now the area where I grew up in Dallas has changed
a lot. People tear down the
small houses & build huge houses on the same small lots. The area lost it's charm. Very strange looking.
The traffic is terrible. As I
drive thru small towns, I wonder if they can be as nice
& peaceful as they look.
(Linda Howell 9:01am July 29, 2009)

I know Noblesville. I live in a small city, but near small towns, which enables me to experience the flavor. The festivals are so much fun to participate in!
(Anne Harris 9:49am July 30, 2009)

My late-husband was from a VERY small town in Washington state. It had only one stop light! I'm from a large city, so I found it fascinating to visit.
(Patsy Hagen 6:38pm August 2, 2009)

I was born into a Marine family. The first 14 years of my life were spent on military bases. This is a world of its own. A town within a town. the 1960's& 1970's were a fantastic time to grow up on a military base. We had free reign of our housing area. There were no fears for our safety. There were no strangers- they were Marine familys therefore your family. My childhood consisted of riding bikes, running around free and carefree. My dad didn't have to worry about us. When he had to deploy, he knew we were safe. Lots of friends who could understand what your life was like.
In 1970 my dad was back in Viet Nam - we went to live near his mom in Tyler, Texas. Tyler was small then, but it was hard to make friends and to belong. Civilian kids didn't have the same worries and concerns - their parents where home all the time. My dad was not.
It made me appreciate the friends I had made on the bases more. When dad returned and we went back to Camp Pendleton,(Oceanside, Ca), the feeling of community returned...I was truly blessed to be born to my parents and the Marine Corp.
(Kimberley Coover 3:19pm December 3, 2009)

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