“Super. Praise God!”

The above is an actual affirmation an older lady granted me at a coffee shop the other day, having asked the fortune that brought me to live and work out here.

This is the kind of town Jackson is. Its also the kind of town where your UPS man greets you as “Miss Hannah”, where your banker invites you rafting on the river, where the prerequisite for friendship is often as simple as both being from east of Iowa or enjoying hiking.

And there are ritualistic traditions here– waving to other cars on the street, saying hello to every person on the trail, engaging in legitimate conversations with people at the grocery store (yes random lady, we ARE lucky to live in a place with such a beautiful salad bar!).

There are something like 2.6 million fewer people around me here. I had a friend muse to me once that moving to a small town would be appealing if not for the decline in possibilities of the people you would meet. It struck me in that moment, as it does again here most every day, that I do not agree.

The extra couple million people are a nice opportunity, that’s for sure. I will always cite the wide range of friends I made in Chicago as one of the best things about living in a metropolitan place. But realistically you could never know more than a couple hundred folks anyways, and if the 10,000 in your town share your values and passions, I’d call that a lot of opportunity.

Plus, Jackson is not your typical small town. Already in my like 7 weeks here I’ve been to concerts, Shakespeare in the Park, one eternally memorable performance art spectacle that combined dance/dogs/competitive sheep herding. I’ve climbed mountains, tried out three yoga studios, watched the sun descend from a dozen vantage points. It may be a small town but its one with great intention, and pride. And the people that deliberately choose to call this dot on the map home are themselves full of intention and pride. And their stories never cease to fascinate me, for the other revelatory thing about Jackson is that almost no one is originally from here. Everyone has arrived answering some call. Its such a percentage of the town that I heard someone describe the minority of folks, those actually born in Jackson, as “an interesting breed”. For the record I really them too.

Now some of these strangers I’ve already lost touch with, their offers sincere but their spirits carefree. And more than sometimes I’m still very lonely here. But I already admire Jackson and its strangers, and find their own qualities a pretty perfect guidemap of the ones to strive for in myself.

Moment of Gratitude: Opportunity thrives not through population, but through the kinship we share with others. And allow for strangers to cultivate kinship, not because its guaranteed but because it is hoped for.