Pros and Cons of…”where everybody knows your name”…

I am starting to appreciate the benefits of living in a small southern town.  Slow pace, no stress traffic, even at the big “W” I have many “amigas” because it was starting to get complicated to remember everyone’s name. 

When grocery shopping, I would hear my name being called, I would turn around, hug the person smiling at me, mostly a female, (in the Hispanic culture we hug a lot, in the coming in and in the going out), and if it is a male, a handshake would do, but if I know the individual well, he is also worthy of a hug.  After the hug,  my neurons start searching desperately for the name of the individual.   In the meantime if there are children involved, hi sweetie would do.  But the person whose name I am trying to remember starts carrying on a conversation, and I am in total limbo.  I am afraid to say much, because it may hint this person that I really don’t know her and what’s going on.  I read once that it is better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you are dumb, than open it, and remove any doubt.  That’s my mantra in these situations.  Sometimes we talk for a while, and I am still searching, and the time to say goodbye arrives, and we hug again, and there she goes and there I go, still scanning the disappearing neurons.  Minutes or hours go by and then Bingo, I remember the face and the name to go with it.  Too many happy birthdays.

Forgot, the picture above was at the beginning of my journey this morning.  Stop at the Post Office.  Beautiful sight of a cherry blossom.  Good start.  Then on my way to the town next door, I came out of my car, parked on a dirt road and took these.

The dirt roads are part of the scenery here in this area of the country.  No problem.  I would do somewhat whatever it takes to give you my friend readers a good perspective of what I do to go and pay bills, and have fun on the way.  I am loving this taking pictures and letting you appreciate the uniqueness of this area.

I just love these old almost falling apart buildings in the country side.  There are so many of them.  Remember my primitive decoy.  I just love rustic things because there is so much history behind them.

And these are at the parking lot of my specialty market.  That’s where I get my special meats, sweet potatoes, and other things that are just special.  Whole Foods is for the extra special.  As you can deduct, I have degrees of special things in my life.  It makes it more diverse for me.  Anything to keep from getting bored with FOOD.  Here also they know me somewhat. 

The problem with this issue of places of “where everybody knows you and your name” is a two edge sword, at least for me.  Benefit is that you get great service and extra things, but on the other hand, I need to make sure that I always look my best, even for the guys at the Produce Department.  It helps to get the lead on what’s good or they go to the back room to get something fresher for me.  It is not easy to keep appearances.  Dark glasses don’t help much anymore.  They got used to seeing me wearing them.  No incognito business for me in this town .  Wouldn’t it be nice if all my problems would boil down to these my petty situations.  I am glad my life is so simple.

Pros…Cons…but come to think of it, that’s the yin and the yang of life.

 I don’t know why the following part of A Tale of Two Cities came to mind.  I have not read the book, but have come across this phrase from it a few times…

” It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way. . . .”

With all of that in mind,

Make it a very happy and joyful weekend.  See you next Monday!

Your Happy Contessa