"It's Here! It's Here!"

"It's here! It's here!" my mailman yelled excitedly while waving an envelope in his hand. He knew I had been waiting anxiously for that check for several weeks. His enthusiasm had as much meaning for me as the check itself.

Ahhh...the beauty of a small town --

The beauty of a small town is that there is a level of trust that is unsurpassed and the caring for others is unparalleled. Errands can be run in seconds flat and the waitresses know "your usual" or call you at home to check on you if you haven't been there in awhile. You know you're in a small town when walking into the pharmacy or the cleaners becomes a social outing. Even the small town dogs can profit. I've known mailmen who think of their needs by bringing along dog bones to serve them on their routes to make their days.

I have a friend who goes to a certain fast food restaurant for his "wings" so often they recognize his voice at the drive through. One night he drove up and ordered his usual only to hear they were out of wings. However, upon recognizing his voice he said, "Wait a minute now -- who is this?" He gave his name and the reply was, "Oh, we've got "your wings" waiting for you. Drive on around!"

The wife of the "wings" guy told me the story of being a cheerleader in middle school. She had a big game and realized her uniform was at the cleaners. One phone call to the owner was all it took for him to meet her at 7:00 in the morning before the usual opening hour, so she could retrieve her uniform.

A friend of mine frequents a restaurant so often that the employees have his unsweetened tea waiting his daily anticipated arrival.

Carolyn, the friendly cashier at Food Lion, is always on alert if she suspects her customers may be having a bad day. I have seen her step around the counter and put her arm around someone saying, "What's the matter, honey?"

The convenience store around the corner used to place its weekly orders to the candy man based on how many prospective bags of candy corn and circus peanuts I would buy that week.

After my father was diagnosed with Alzheimers and gave up his driver's license, he would walk everywhere in his small town of Elkin, N.C. doing small errands to fill his day. Our family was concerned for his safety at first. We put our worries to rest, however, when it became apparent that his dedicated friends in the town were watching out for him on his walks. Many times, they would pick him up, even going out of their way to help him get to his destination safely.

Comedian Lenny Bruce said, "I hate small towns because once you've seen the canon in the park, there's nothing else to do." He couldn't have been talking about the small town where the mailman cares about making your day with a check he's bringing you -- or better yet -- making your dog's day with a bone.

Ahhh -- .the beauty and peacefulness of a small town --