Small town USA

My current town has around 1400 people in its boundaries.  My husbands graduating class was about 30 teens.  There is little to no violence.  Most people leave their keys in their vehicles overnight and rarely lock the doors to their homes.  We have gun shows at the high school gym.  People know each other by sight and it is easy to get caught up in conversation at the grocery store or gas station.  This is a nice little town. 

However, like many other little towns across this land, it has its fair share of unpleasantness. Gossip.  Grudges. Past that never dies.  Cliques. Fear of something new.  People are wary of anything different.   Take a purple haired southwestern-er for example.  I am definitely different from the average Wisconsinite. 

I get it. 

I have loud hair and a louder opinion.  I do not hold to the idea that I must bow to my husband or that I must change my outer appearance to fit in with the locals.  I am blunt.  I sugar coat nothing.  Well, I sugar coat cookies but that is entirely different.  I don't pretend to like someone.  If people don't like me, fine.  I am doing better about not losing sleep over something I cannot control. I homeschool my children and will tell anyone who will listen why I think that my local schools suck.  I am not a liberal. I am not a conservative.  I like to think I am in the happy middle.  Taxation is theft by the way.

Being as I am, after 10 years, I am still an outsider.  Friends are few but they accept me for being me.

I work all day at me and my husbands used car dealership. I am with my family almost 24/7.  And it drives me mad sometimes.  So Ozzie and I try to have "Me Dates" about once a week to every 2 weeks.  A " Me Date" is when Ozzie or myself do something just for us. Alone.  Often times, when finances are good, I will take myself out to a dinner and a show.  This gives me a chance to go and see what I like without compromising.  Or we will go hang out with a friend.  Basically, it is a chance for us to remember that we are more than just a husband or wife or mother or father.  Other times it may just be an hour or two locked away in the bedroom with music and a good book.

I bring this up because people find this practice strange.  I can understand that.  You are not supposed to crave time away from your children or spouse. 

This post is random and may not make much sense.    I just want to encourage people in relationships or building families to find time to still be an individual.  How a small town thinks or how the social norm is presented is not a script you need to follow.  If people cannot accept it then they are not worth the precious grains of sand passing through the hourglass.