5 reasons why I love my small town

Rich and I have been living in our new town for 15 months now, and we love it more than ever. A lot of the time it feels like living in a soap opera, and what's wrong with that? It's endlessly entertaining, and I get a kick out of the many little intrigues and dramas that are happening around us. While I'm sure I only see the tip of the iceberg of everything that's going on, that's more than enough to give me plenty of reasons to adore this sweet town.  

I mean, just look at what's going on here:

1. We have Dancing Mask Man

We have a mystery dancing man in town, and everybody is talking about it. He sets up his boom box in different parts of town, and dances. Because he's wearing a mask, it's slightly pretty creepy, but he seems harmless, and he sure managed to spark curiosity and conversation around here. Who is he? Why is he doing it? Is he sending a message?

So far it's unclear why he is doing it, which only increases the mystery. People are scratching their heads, and I love it!

2. The rainbow cross-walk initiative 

A group of high school students wants a rainbow crosswalk in front of their school as a symbol of inclusion. When they were rejected by the city council, it sparked an initiative much bigger than they probably expected. CTV News reported on it, and two Vancouver lawyers offered their parking lots to be painted in rainbow colours. Not only that, local businesses show their support by decorating their windows in rainbow colours and spreading awareness on social media, and there are now stickers you can get to  show your support. I'll get mine later today!

3. People know you

The other day, I went to a patient's bed in Emergency to do an ECG on him. "I haven't seen you around here, you must be new," was his first comment, something I've gotten used to. Most staff who work at our hospital are lifers, and the few new faces are mostly transient. As soon as I told him that I've lived and worked here for a year and I'm here to stay, he shocked me with the following: "You live next to J&J, don't you." I stared at him, speechless. "How do you know?!" I eventually managed to ask, slightly alarmed. Turns out, he visited them recently, and they got talking about us and that I work at the hospital. The world is very small in a small town. 

4. It takes a village - and the village is here to help

I had a conversation the other day about one of our doctors. He was on 24-hour duty at the hospital, and his wife was at home with their young child. She wanted to go for a run and needed someone to look after her child for an hour. It took several phone calls between neighbours and spouses, but eventually one of their friends' spouse was able to look after the doctor's kid. I love the people here. 

5. Helpful neighbours

We had yet another heavy snowfall last week. I was trudging through the snow, cursing softly under my breath, eyeing the sparkly, pretty white stuff with distaste. Our driveway was buried under half a foot of snow, and I knew that I would lave to plow it later before work. It's not a big deal, really, but at this point, I'm so fed up with winter, I was unreasonably annoyed by the prospect. 

I didn't need to be. 

Half an hour later, I saw a quad zipping up and down the driveway, efficiently clearing it. 

It was one of our neighbours. 

We didn't ask for help; he simply did it because he knows that Rich has been sick, and because he wanted to help out. 

I baked him half a dozen soft pretzels, and dropped them and a dozen eggs off at their house. 

Have I mentioned that I love where we live?

Have a very happy weekend!

xoxo Miriam

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