YOU KNOW YOU ARE FROM A SMALL TOWN IF. . . .

(Some of these are my own, some are borrowed. If you have any you want to add, feel free to leave a comment.)


1) You know very few of the street names in town. Everyone gives directions by where people live, or by where they used to live. Example: Go a street past the post office and turn right. The Smiths live a few houses down on that street next door to the Miller's old house, right across the street from the Brown's.

2) Your teachers remember when they taught your parents and/or they call you by your older siblings' names.

3) It is normal to see an old man riding through town on a lawn mower.

4) There are just as many people in the parade as there are sitting watching it.

5) You call a wrong number and talk for fifteen minutes anyway.

6) It is difficult for you to work in the front yard because everybody stops by to talk.

7) You drive into the ditch five miles out of town and word gets back before you do.

8) You know the names of the dogs you pass on your walking route, or when someone's dog is loose, you immediately know who to call to come get it.

9) The fire truck or ambulance goes by and everyone either follows it or calls around to find out where it's going.

10) When someone says the word "elevator," you associate it with grains trucks.

11) The school bus ever dropped you off at the field where your parents are working.

12) The highlight of your summer as a child was the three day hometown festival held annually on the same weekend - - and everyone who had moved away comes home for it even as an adult.

13) You consider a nearby area of 100,000 people to be the "big city."

14) At least ten people know where you keep the spare key to your house.

15) It takes you less than three minutes to read your local newspaper.

16) You run out of room on the form when listing the people who are allowed to pick your child up from school.

17) You settle down within a twenty minute drive or less from the house you grew up in.

18) A town that is nearby to yours is considered "trashy" or "snooty" when in fact, it is almost identical to yours.

19) If you are going to miss church on Sunday, you have to let someone know so everybody doesn't think something is wrong.

20) You never have to actually bring your library card to the library or show identification at the bank because they already know who you are.

21) You are related to at least five people in town.