Normal

Recently, I've had a few conversations about places and homes, and I'd share bits of my growing up, which I thought were normal, only to be told by others that my experiences probably weren't. I'm still not sure if I think of my good ol' small town of Reed City as normal or not, but it was interesting. I remember it as a small place, fairly isolated and remote, surrounded by trees (and often snow) and filled with good small town people... and a couple of rednecks thrown in for fun. Since then I've lived in a medium sized city, a large city, a small mountain town, and a fairly middle class medieval town. None of these reflect the town I grew up in and lately there have been a variety of things that have brought up my youth. In my head it's still unique, mildly isolated, and full of character. But I wonder if it was really as odd as I remember it sometimes, so I've started a list of things that make it different from the other places I've lived...

For example:

- I've seen it snow 9 month in one year.
- I've seen snow every month of the year except for July and August.
- The piles of snow cleared from the streets were often around until the middle of June.
- I went to school with people who built large sections of their vehicles. I've seen a car that was composed of the front and back of two separate cars and a mid-sized truck with a reconstructed bed (made out of 4x4 boards) and semi-exhaust pipe.
- I've seen sod houses and houses where the bed was a board that folded out of the wall.
- I always had the first day of deer hunting season off school.
- I was one of a hand full of boys who didn't take the hunter's safety class in Jr. High.
- A boaters safety course was taught to us during school in 6th grade.
- A nearby school had rules specifying 'no driving tractors or snowmobiles to school'.
- I had a friend who used a quad for transportation around town for two years.
- We, not just my friends but a decent number of people I knew, rated town size based on the number and kind of stoplights it had. The smallest was 'no light' followed by 'blinking yellow light in four directions' then 'half blinking yellow, half blinking red' and then finally one that 'changed color.' Needless to say, the more complex the color, the larger the town.

Its funny how 'normal' changes and the idea of most of these things feels... well, mildly ridiculous. Also, now you see the dilemma in trying to explain Reed City to someone from posh, well to do, Durham England!