Hello, Jolene Navarro checking in from the Texas Hill Country. I love life in a small town. People know people. They know who your grandmother was, your second cousins and siblings. You belong. You have a history. You’re part of a story. You know why the locals call the intersection at HWY 46 and Herff Rd. Sheep Dip Crossing.
On a sad note, the newbies in town give you a blank stare if your direction includes Sheep Dip Crossing or “where Poorboys use to be.” I’m guessing in the next couple of generations the terms will be gone for our local vocabulary.
The thing that can drive you straight out of the small town? People know people. This means they know your grandmother, parents, your cousin… well, you get the picture. People remember you as a teenager, and all the stupid senseless stuff you want to forget. They really know your family members. There is no glossing over or hiding the crazy. Remember the time when…..can leave you on the edge of your seat and glancing around to see if your kids are near. And sometimes they say that and you really have no memory of the incident. So you have to decide to fake it and laugh or start an argument because you know it never happened.
There are different levels of small towns. Places like Leakey, Texas with less than 400 people and one main street. It is also the kind of town I love writing about, generations of ranchers and business owners. One street light. Pre-school to twelfth graders are on the same school campus. The Friday night lights are a town event. The community is strong. A church on every corner (mainly because someone had a disagreement so they started a new church). Not a great deal has changed there over the years, expect the path of the river with each flood.
Living in a small town, Boerne Texas
This is one of two that I claim as my hometowns because my great-great grandparents settled there and my parents met and married there. It’s also the place I met my love (during homecoming) and married him. We moved back and lived there when our first two children were little. I love this beautiful valley in the Texas Hill Country. My husband’s family has started on the fourth generations now. It will always be home. Go Eagles!
Then you have small towns like Boerne, Texas. When I started school there in 1979, there was one high school, one middle school and an elementary or two. No chain restaurant or fast food. The grocery store and pharmacy were owned by local families. The owners of the restaurants called you by name.
We rode our horses to the General Store where you could hear people speaking in a mix of English, German and Spanish. Today Boerne is going through growing pains. Being north of San Antonio, it is in the fastest growing area in the United States. People love having the Main Street USA feel of the small town with the convenience of one of the biggest cities.
The family-owned businesses when you drive down Main Street the family-owned businesses are gone. For the sake of convenience, the big box stores have staked a claim along the highway, forcing the mom and pop shops to close or redefine themselves.
I write the small towns from my childhood. That’s one of my favorite things about writing. I get to create the world as I want it and I get to right wrongs. I write romance because I get to go through the journey of self-discovery and the struggle of growth. Each character learning to give everything to God. A lesson I seem to need to learn over and over again. And of course, we are promised a happy ending.
Jolene Navarro
Jolene’s life, much like her stories, is filled with faith, family, and all of life's wonderful messiness. She knows that, as much as the world changes, people stay the same. Good and evil. Vow-keepers and heart breakers. Jolene married a vow-keeper who showed her that holding hands and dancing in the rain never gets old. She loves creating stories of love and faith in her much loved Texas.
I love small town Texas,
Me too. I’m so happy that people want to read stories set in small towns. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Jolene, thanks for sharing about towns special to you. I grew up in a small town in North Queensland, with my nanna, aunts, uncles and cousins nearby. Now, I am privileged to live in a small town only half an hour from Melbourne- all the wonderful things about small town living (with locally owned businesses) but the conveniences and so on of the city quite close. I feel blessed.
Blessings:)
That’s the best of both worlds, right?
Hi Jolene! I love small town Americana. While I have never been to Texas, your community sounds similar to SW Michigan: small towns and villages within 100 miles of Chicago, Illinois; people speaking English, Spanish, and German; Friday night rivalry between two local sports teams; & everybody knowing everybody. My great uncle came to this area in 1950 from Chicago to live near his farmer cousins and the many Germans in the area. As a contractor he developed a subdivision and custom built 10 homes. He trained many of the contractors in the area. SW Michigan is blessed with pristine sandy beaches, excellent schools, locally run businesses, abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables, museums, and theater. Jessica Keller Goose Harbor Love Inspired romances have a SW Michigan setting. Thanks for delightful blog into your life and writing. Best wishes.
I love her Goose Harbor series. And I do think there is a connecton to small towns no matter where they are located. The blessings that everyone knows you and the pain in the neck that everyone knows you. lol Overall it’s a great place to live.
I love small towns. I grew up in one. I live in a large town now but miss the atmosphere of a small town.
But you can visit in books. LOL I think that’s one reason the small town is such a popular setting.
I live in small town, Kentucky. I grew up here, moved to our state capital at 18, and moved back “home” at 56 a year and a half ago. Much has changed, but much has stayed the same. Like you say, everybody knows your business. When I was visiting churches trying to find the right one, my mother often knew where I’d gone that day before I’d even eaten lunch! But that was better than when I was a teenager and it wasn’t visiting churches she knew about!
LOL. That’s funny. Thanks for sharing.
My grandmother has lived in a couple of small towns in North Carolina and, having lived in a large suburban area my whole life, I remember really being struck by the differences when visiting her as a child. Some good, some not quite so good.
LOL – Like with anything there is the good the bad and the ugly. It’s good to get a little of it all.
This is such a fun, delightful read! I grew up in a town of about 1,000 people, but it still seemed like a small town. We knew our neighbors, and almost all of the people in town. They knew our relatives. We could walk anywhere or ride our bikes, without our parents worrying about where we were. And we didn’t lock our doors. It’s funny to go back now, and have people whom I can’t remember, still remember me or my family & know who I am. I love small towns!
1,000 is small. I think anything under 5,ooo can feel small. It’s just a different lifestyle. Thanks for stopping by.
I live in Texas as well and have lived in different places from a small town of 900 up to the Dallas/Fort Worth area. You really can’t beat the friendliness of Texans <3
For about 10 years of my life (young school period) we lived in the DFW area. Euless, Irving and Flowermound. We were in the first neighborhood and the third house in Flowermound. It had gotten a little bigger since 1978.
I also grew up in a small town in Texas. It isn’t quite as small as the ones you describe, but around 5000. There was a little more anonymity, but not a lot.
I love reading about small towns.
Yeah, I think 5,000 is small. That was about the size of Boerne back in the day. Thank you for visiting.
Hi Jolene,
I lived in small towns and big towns. I too love the small towns. We still have a few here in Oregon. It’s fun to remember what it was like. When I was younger I lived in one of the towns which seemed far away from the big metro city. Yet a few years ago my husband and I moved back and even tho it tries to have the small town feel, it’s surrounded by the BIG city and there really doesn’t seem to be any difference. Sad, because the small town community feel is wonderful, and sometimes magical.
Yes, Boerne is going through that change now. With all the growth, the small town feel is slipping away. People are fighting to find ways to keep it, but at one point I think it will be gone. Oregon is one of the few states I have not visited. The pictures I’ve seen are beautiful. I would love to take a road trip through Oregon one day.
Jolene,
You should come out here. It’s really beautiful and we have many small towns, mountain cities, desert cities, and beautiful coastal cities. (Oh, we also have college towns and Big cities too!) We have it all!
The downside of a small town/rural area is if you’re a newcomer. I think our farm was known as “that new place down on the flats” for over twenty years!
That is so true. My grandfather was always the guy form Ohio even after 50 years. LOL
I was born in Washington , DC and spent most of my life in the Virginia and Maryland suburbs. Lots of people! From every where !! I loved it. I love reading about small towns. Now we have moved to Kentucky and are enjoying a slower pace. To us it’s small but locals call it a bigger city and complain about the traffic. Everyone has been very welcoming.
Diana, I also grew up in the Washington DC area. After a few different moves due to my husband’s job we settled down in the mountains of West Virginia in the southern area of West Virginia. Our town has a population of 10,000 people in a rural area. We love spending our retirement years here.
That sounds like a perfect size.
Diana, That is so true. As Boerne gets bigger and more people move in because they love the “small town” the local kind of grumble “it use to be a small town, but now there’s too many people.”
I enjoy the feel of a small town. I grew up in a town of around 8,000, but my grandparents lived in Sugarbush Valley which might have had 3,000 people. My Dad’s graduating class was 12, compared to mine of 180. I miss the old days in the Valley sitting on my grandparent’s front porch watching small town life or just reading a book, or walking through the village to get the mail and people knew you because they knew Gram and Gramp. Thanks for the walk down memory lane.
PS We still use directions like your example “take a right where the school used to be”. Ah the days before GPS.
Aww..what a sweet post. For some reason it almost made me tear up. There are wonderful memories that my children didn’t get to experience. Than you so much for sharing.
I have never lived in a small town, but do enjoy reading about them. My high school graduating class was 2000…
LOL – My class was the biggest at the time – We had gone over to 200 mark. Your high school was bigger than my town. :)
I was born and raised in a small town and will still be here until the Lord calls me home.
Unfortunately, my town isn’t small anymore. It used to be that I would always run into someone I knew but now, the only time I see a friendly face is at the doctor’s office.
The same thing is happening in Boerne. I think that is one reason I love reading series. I get to revisit old friends. Thank you for stopping by for a visit.
I live in San Antonio but love the Hill Country. It’s beautiful.
Hi neighbor! I work on the west side of downtown (close to market square) I think SA is one of the best big cities that has somehow kept a small town feel. (as much as a big city can) I feel blessed to live in the Hill Country but get to work in SA. One of my favorite hang outs is Barns & Noble at La Cantera.
Jolene, having grown up in the Washington DC area I loved it as a child. After a few moves due to my husband’s job where we lived in the suburbs of Atlanta and St. Louis we settled down in a rural area of West Virginia. We love the slower pace of a small town now. I get quite nervous driving in a major city. Hard to believe that I learned to drive in the Washington DC area. We do not miss all of the traffic of a large city.
Wow – Washington DC has one of the most crowed feels to it – It is an awesome place to visit, but ugh to live there. LOL Traffic is the thing I hate most about city life.
Yes, Boerne is going through that change now. With all the growth, the small town feel is slipping away. People are fighting to find ways to keep it, but at one point I think it will be gone. Oregon is one of the few states I have not visited. The pictures I’ve seen are beautiful. I would love to take a road trip through Oregon one day.
I grew up in a small town, Indiana. It now has 2 stoplights. After traveling around the world in the military (hubby was in Army) we now live in a little bigger town that is growing all the time in southern Indiana along the Ohio. Many along the river were affected with flooding in the last few weeks, thankfully we were not. Also Main Street is a little ways up from the river. We are located on farmland between downtown and the hilltop area of Madison. My mother grew up in this area and as for people knowing everything, when I work on our genealogy, I can get an earful. I like that it is a little slower pace in life, but that is changing too. Not as much traffic as really big towns and sometimes we do run into people we know. But I too like the small town stories.
LOL So ture about talking to folks about family history. It’s fun.
I didn’t grow up in a small town, but I live in one now on the Oregon coast. It’s slow paced except for Summer or what we like to call “tourist season”. Try cramming 20,000 (okay maybe that’s an exaggeration) into a town of about 6700 every day for three or four months….yeah that’s fun NOT! I’ve learned the back way around town and avoid the downtown area at all costs during that time of the year.
Can’t go into a grocery store or Home Depot without running into someone you know. Or the bank, or library or whatnot. When the clerks know your name, you know you got it made :-) Now, I have the advantage of not growing up here so nobody knows the “stupid senseless stuff” I did when I was younger, lol! But I love it here and wouldn’t trade it for the world. Every city or town has it’s pros and cons and it’s likes and dislikes, so as a saying I’ve seen, grow where you’re planted .
One final note: We’re finally getting a Walmart like them big city folk have, it’s even gonna be one of them fancy Super ones with grub and all (can you hear my southern drawl there)! ;-)
Oh I know all about the “tourist season”. In Leakey they host a huge July Jubilee on the Fourth of July. Parade, rodeo, art & crafts and food. The town of 400 must get at least 3000 people – not a cabin or room can be found to rent. The most famous state park is here and families have travels here for generations. (a bunch from Houston) It gets crazy.
Trixi,
I love the Oregon coast. We’ve been to many times since we live in one of those big cities just east of you. I know what you mean about “all those tourists.” It can be really bad driving around there. I remember one time we went to Lincoln City and went the back way to get south of town. The town was so packed, but it actually worked. We try to go at least once a year just to get away. We used to camp in Seaside, Pacific City, and Fort Stevens. Now we just get AirB&B’s.
I’ve lived in small towns, medium-sized towns, and big cities. They all have something to offer. Everyone finds their niche. I’ve decided I like smallish suburban towns close to big cities, so you can the best of both worlds.
Nothing like a small town.
I’m blessed to get to write my stories in a small town. :)
I totally agree – it’s a good thing we don’t want to all life in the same place – that would be awkward. lol.
I enjoy reading about small towns. They always sound so special!
I grew up in a small town. Love country life. :)
I love reading stories set in a small town. I was born in a small town. However, since we have a military base we have grown by leaps and bounds; some for good some not so much.
I remember the two-lane road into town, main street, and because I lived 8 miles from town, I lived in the “sticks”. I miss the small town feel. In contrast, I get to meet people from EVERYWHERE; a lot of our military retire here and become southerners no matter where they initially called home. It’s wonderful.
You are right! I love reading about small towns. It put things and places in focus.
I grew up in rural Northwestern Minnesota and went to school in a small town.
I love small towns too! Cozy and sweet!