What is Small Town America?

Anyone reading this that is from small town America knows what I am already talking about. Being from a very small community in Upstate NY with the proverbial 1 traffic light, I have learned a few things over the years. First I am eternally grateful to have been raised in that type of environment. Family values, a good work ethic, helping others you know seem to be a way of life in these areas. Second is to return to "your" small town. Two months ago I went back "home" after an absence of 5 years thinking I had missed nothing. I was wrong. I missed friends, relatives,I new born babies and although painful, I missed some deaths as well. This probably bothered me the most and is what stirred the writing you see here. I have been so caught up with life I didnt see the value for the return trip to my roots and in the process missed some priceless time with people that influenced my life forever. The picture of the old firetruck was taken during the Christmas Parade where I currently live over a thousand miles from where I was born. You see I live in another "small town America" now and that brings up my last thought. After living for 50 years and traveling across this great country, small town America is Small town America anywhere you go.