City Lifestyle Versus Country Living

People constantly ask me, "What's it like to be a writer?" My usual response is sore fingers and strained eyesight. However, my passion is stories written about everyday life experiences. I recently moved from a bustling metropolitan city to a small bucolic country town. It's a sweet haven for a writer. It's a quiet, peaceful environment conducive to creativity. I enjoy visiting the old country truck stops for coffee and observing the locals and ease-dropping on their conversations. One older fellow stated he'd been jawin' for two hours. My first thought was this poor guy was suffering from a severe bout of TMJ. Later I realized he'd been talking to his morning coffee buddies and was late for his hay delivery. I love chatting with the farmers quoting their philosophy and home spun humor.

I have a dear friends - a western novelist who got me hooked on Rural Farm District humor or as I prefer to call it, "The Cow-Poop Scoop." What makes small town folk so intriguing to me is they truly believe all of the old timer tales, local folklore and town gossip as long as it's followed by, "And that's the honest to goodness truth!"

Case in point, a few years ago I overheard an old fella sitting on a bench outside of a North Carolina Wal-Mart, bending another fellas ear about his grand-pappy who survived on lard, sugar and water during the great depression, and lived to be 102 years old until he died of heart failure. As his tale came to an end he exclaimed, "And he would have lived longer if it weren't for that nagging wife of his, bless her heart. And that's the honest to goodness truth." The other fella nodded his head in total agreement. Personally, I think it was the lard and sugar laden diet that brought him to his overdue demise. Who knows for sure.

Daily doses of light hearted humor have been prove to ease tension, lower blood pressure and help to live a long life. Remember it takes 37 muscles tofrown and 22 muscles to smile. Whether or not it's scientifically accurate I don't know, but it sure made me smile researching it. And that's the honest to goodness truth!