Going to play a game this week....

Not everyone understands the small-town-feel of the city we live in now. By all accounts, it's really NOT small. Small is when you live next door to your mama and your best friend's cousin's ex-husband lives six blocks away on the other side of town. THAT is small. There are 12,000 people here in The Dalles; in fact it's the largest city in the gorge. But there were also 12,000 people in our old stomping ground in Illinois and the difference is unreal. We lived in Sycamore for four years and I can't say I really knew anyone. We've lived here for one year and already we're forging connections and cross connections and running in multiple social circles. But that's not difficult because here, everyone knows EVERYONE. Everyone has CONNECTIONS. And all of the surrounding towns are pretty small so it feels pretty rural sometimes. Hell, having no Target is enough to make it feel rural to me, but I digress.

I always joke that not a day goes by where I don't run into someone I know while running errands or a friend doesn't randomly stop by while they are out and about in town. I can't seem to go anywhere without stopping to chat with someone who I bump in to. In a lot of ways, it's very nice and fun and neat. In a lot of ways, it's not because it means you feel like you can never run out to the grocery store in your grubby PJ pants with no bra on under your husband’s old faded sweatshirt - not even in the middle of the night for something REALLY important like ice cream. Because then you'll DEFINITELY run into someone.

So this week, I'm going to keep track of all the people I run into while out and about. We'll see if it's as bad as I think it is.

Here we go:
Sunday:
A gal I know from my MOPS group (that's Moms of Preschoolers) stopped by to pick up a few things. In chatting with her, I discovered that she grew up across the street from the house we're renting, knew our next door neighbor's younger siblings, and also knows our landlord.

Then while we were in Pet Co, we exchanged hellos with some neighbors who live three doors down. Little did I know that they were shopping for new puppy supplies until I saw them out with their new pup this afternoon.


Monday:
Today when I ran to Walgreen’s to hit the after-Valentine's Day sales I ran into Terra (she works here) who is a friend of a friend that I sometimes see at our girls' nights out.

Then I spent about an hour hanging out with my girlfriend Charlotte, because she always makes me feel normal. That was a spur-of-the-moment-yet-planned run-in so it’s not quite the same but still, hanging out with girlfriends in Illinois required much more planning than a five second last minute phone call.

Then when I ran into Freddies (that's Kroger for your Midwest people) I saw one of the Moms from PTA.

We'll see who I bump into tomorrow!