1. I can drive cattywhompus across town, one corner to the other, in fifteen minutes, max.
2. We have three different places where we can get frozen custard.
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| Blog research is hard work. |
3. When you go to any store in town, you are likely to run into someone you know at least as an acquaintance. Which can be bad news if you decide to throw on some clothes and run to the store with bed hair and no make-up.
4. We don't have any really, really bad parts of town.
5. We have a delightful hardware store downtown that looks and feels just like the one my grandpa (and later, my dad) had in the early 1960s. The people who work there are always helpful, and if you need just one screw, you can usually buy just one screw and not a whole package of them, like you have to do at the big box stores.
6. Your oncologist sits across the aisle from you in church. Your dentist is one of the ushers.
7. Our football team is never fantastic, but there is still a huge turnout at home games.
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| Go Eagles! |
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| Built in 1933. |
8. We know our comfort food. Chicken fried steak. Barbecue (just not on Sundays). Burgers. Pie.
9. A state-of-the-art high school is currently under construction. It will be completed (hopefully) in time for classes to begin next fall. (The reason we are getting it is because the old one blew away in a tornado, but, hey, silver linings!) My daughter should start her sophomore year there.
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| Three days after the tornado. |
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| Build faster! Build faster! |
10. And yes, one-third of the town was literally blown away in an EF-5 tornado two years ago, but our local government and school district leaders rolled up their sleeves and took immediate action. Neighbors helped neighbors. People didn't stand around, wringing their hands and whining on national tv about needing the government to come in and help us. (Not that the government didn't help. They did. As did thousands of volunteers. But the citizens and local leaders were proactive.) It's coming together. Homes and businesses are being rebuilt, trees planted.
We are Joplin.
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| "And even though I expect that some of you will ultimately end up leaving Joplin, I'm pretty confident that Joplin will never leave you." - President Obama's address to JHS Class of 2012 |
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Really REALLY nice list! Seems like a lovely place to live, sorry you HAD to have frozen custard just for blog search, you are right, it is hard work ;)
ReplyDeleteHave an awesome week.
It's not like I could have used one of the many other photos on my phone of me eating frozen custard. Accuracy, after all ;)
DeleteI love your list:) It sounds like the town I grew up in!!! You can go there and buy one screw (or one nail,etc) which is awesome. I don't think you can get frozen yogurt there, though...maybe one place? Our town that I live in now is fairly small, too...no real bad places in town...just a great place to live and raise a family.
ReplyDeleteIt may not be my first choice of a place to live, but it IS a great place to raise a family. It's nice to know when my kids are out somewhere, there is usually always somebody who knows them and would rat them out if they were misbehaving in any way!
DeleteJust awesome! I grew up in a small town in Dakota and couldn't wait to get away, but now that I am older, and long gone from there, I miss many of the things that you talk about here, and I think that the sense of community you have going in Joplin will help it rebuild not just structures but the heart of the city that was tattered by the storm. Your photos, including the "research" pic, were great illustrations... excellent post, you left me smiling and feeling proud for all of you!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Josie! We lived away from the area for twenty years before moving back. I'm very happy to be raising my kids here instead of in LA, where we were before.
DeleteIt is unfortunate that my daughter read my blog this afternoon and realized I went out for frozen custard and didn't take her....
Ok, your town is definitely awesome from all your thankful things and seriously not sure I could come up with one thing let alone 10 that makes where we live this awesome!!
ReplyDeleteThe Chamber of Commerce should pay me for this, shouldn't they? I didn't even write any facetious ones, like "I'm thankful that most of the lead was removed from our yards after being declared a Superfund site."
Deletehere in New England you could say that we have small towns, but I suspect it is an entirely different experience from what you are describing... mostly in that the level of...what do you call it?... 'friendliness' yeah, that's it! friendliness
ReplyDeletepretty weird.
I've seen movies and shows about the idea of how much people get into the local school sports... again there is an element of community...or, at very least a open and public form of community that really seems kind of attractive.
(and thank you for the secret joke in one of the photos!)
We are definitely not New England.
DeleteAnd it's not Mayberry.
But it doesn't suck. Well, not all the time :)
You won't hear a peep out of me.
ReplyDeleteNo song. Because I didn't think of it until you mentioned it.
It took me all day to come up with ten things....
What a fantastic post! Love it.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Cyndy!
DeleteSo nice of you to do a positive post about Joplin after all the bad things you've said about it. It sounds like a really nice place to live. I especially like the little local places, like the hardware store. Although, frozen yogurt is pretty good, too.
ReplyDeleteFrozen yogurt is pretty good. Frozen custard is divine!
DeleteHow did I miss that? Frozen custard is the best!
DeleteYou have really painted in inspirational story of recovery and a small town's unique identity. I am so happy to read that you are getting a new high school after so much devastation.
ReplyDeleteIt will be wonderful to have them all on one building again. Half of them are in an old store at the mall, and half of them are at an old, old school building (over 80) that has been a high school, a junior high, a middle school.
DeleteLove this, and this is why I at least try to run to the store with good hair!
ReplyDeleteExactly!
DeleteI just love your list...small-town living really is something special.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lisa! Are you going to join us with a post again this week?
Delete"can drive cattywhompus"..?! How can anything else following these words be less than terrific. LOL Having said that, what the hell does it mean!?
ReplyDeleteActually Dyanne, this post had me cruising with a smile until the casual remark about 1/3 of your town getting blown away. Was not ready for that. There is nothing more frightening than tornadoes and I've never even experienced one directly. Video footage alone sends me into hiding. There is something comforting about the familiarity of very small towns. You have painted quite a nice picture of your own. Love the pictures:)
Cattywhompus. Uh, kitty cornered? Diagonally? That help? How 'bout I can drive from the northwest corner of town to the southeast corner of town in fifteen minutes. Better?
DeleteTornadoes are terrifying. I've been around them pretty much all my life, and they aren't something you ever get used to.
It's one thing to write a TToT post, it's another to write one about something/place that you have previously commented negatively. Thanks for your great example; I should probably follow it sometime!
ReplyDeleteI'm such a Pollyanna.
DeleteSuch a nice tribute to your town! Although mine is not as small we do have a couple similarities...I attend church with my GP/Gyn and my dentist, and we also have a True Value store which sounds very similar to yours. It's always the place to look when you need a hard-to-find item. And I almost always run into someone I know at least as an acquaintance too, as I have lived almost my entire "29" years here, so it's bound to happen. There are quite a few lifers around this place...so that should speak well of it, no?
ReplyDeleteGreat list...
I have lived here for 15 years. My husband almost counts as a "lifer." He grew up here, moved away when he was about 20, and came back about 15 years later.
DeleteAwesome list, especially the silver lining. I worked in hardware stores all through High School and shortly thereafter. True Value was a great company :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! I love hardware stores, especially the smell of them. I'm sure I look like a freak when I stand in one and breathe deeply, but they smell like my dad's farm supply store that he closed two years ago when he wanted to retire. Those big box hardware stores don't have the same smell.
DeleteYour small town seems idyllic to me - but then every American small town must feel the same to those who live there :)
ReplyDeleteWe don't get that same sort of feel where we live, here in the UK, except the part that you can guarantee you'll bump into someone you know just when your hair needs a good brush, or you ran our without make-up on! Lol
I hope your High School gets finished in time :)
It's a pretty good place to call home.
DeleteI read somewhere you should always be prepared to run into an old love or an old enemy.
Great list! I lived in small town while in college and so much of your list reminds me of those days. Especially the hardware store! Your lists are always so much fun to read.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! It's not always exciting, but it's home.
DeleteWow, the tornado recovery part gave me chills. Your town sounds absolutely wonderful. Also, mmm frozen custard!
ReplyDeleteThe tornado was definitely life-altering. And how can anyone not love frozen custard? I mean, really?
DeleteAwesome list...not sure why so much but God you make me laugh!
ReplyDeleteAw, that makes me happy!
DeleteSometimes you need to focus on what you are thankful for and you have much! Great post! I don't live in a small town but sometimes wish I did.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I do love visiting big cities and whooshing around on the freeways, but then I'm ready to go home.
DeleteFrozen custard? Frozen yogurt? Cattywhompus? What ya talking bout Willis?
ReplyDeleteObama looks good..mmm but u look better...
You've never heard of frozen custard or frozen yogurt? For the love of God, Google it! (Wish I could send you some, but I don't think it would travel very well.)
DeleteYou don't know cattywhompus, either? What word do YOU use to describe going from one corner of town to the other?
Hmm frozen custard, eh? Where do you get yours? I get mine via Culver's, but I am uncertain just where all those are at exactly. Just had some Monday when visiting my grams :-) Red Raspberry! Huzzah!
ReplyDeleteYeah... that punk* Clark got all fancy with videos, so I totally thought you were going to have a video entry lol Should it be "video or it didn't happen" now? That would definitely up the ante! Most people have a fancy phone able to do that, which I don't yet possess.
It's great you were able to come up with a list of thankfulness about your town to counteract all that negative mumbo-jumbo, voodoo, which-doctor shit you spewed about it last week >.>
I came from a very small town and it can suck when everyone knows everyone and everything that goes down. Here I can roam free pantless and no one knows who I am... Well, thankfully I am pretty reclusive and remain indoors during those moments...
It's 3am I should contemplate sleep at some point here.
Hope the school turns out great! I love seeing pictures from the aftermath (but more so of the actual event), not because I love destruction really, but weather and such. I would have volunteered if I lived closer. Well, I would now being I have finally dipped into the world of volunteer work a few months ago.
Okay, I'm beginning to babble I think. Have a fun week!
*in this context a term of endearment**
**but no promises***
***just kidding****
****but seriously, no pinky swears...
Jak at The Cryton Chronicles & Dreams in the Shade of Ink
Our frozen custard includes one local place, plus Freddy's (which also has delish steakburgers and fries) and Andy's. Both chains. There is a Culver's in the neighboring town, but I am not overwhelmed by it.
DeleteI will not be posting a video entry for the main reason that I have NO CLUE how to do it.
My son pointed out one day that the sign on the door to a store said that you must wear shirt and shoes, but nowhere did it say you had to wear pants.
There are several security camera videos from inside the high school during the tornado. Here's one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4P7D9ig3T4
Hope you finally got some sleep last night.