I {heart} Surry!

You ever just have one of those perfect weekends? Where you realize how amazingly blessed you are to live where you live?  This past weekend was one of those for us.

Truly, sometimes I really feel like we live in Mayberry.

It started off by crossing the river to meet a woman in "town" for a playdate. She and her family have just moved here from California and are looking for a place to buy. She mentioned that she had seen a house online in Surry and wondered if I knew it. I didn't, but I did see that my friend, Anna, was the realtor and I was able to call and set them up to view the property.

I also let these folks know that they would be right next to a wonderful pick-your-own farm and that they might want to make an afternoon of taking the ferry over, seeing the house, and then stopping by the farm for the corn maze, homemade pumpkin ice cream, and some pumpkin picking.

It makes me so proud to share the people and resources of our community!

Saturday, we spent hours watching our children's baseball teams play their hearts out, visited another local farm to get all-natural meats, and attended the loveliest campaign BBQ one could imagine.

One of the gentleman running for local office here is a blueberry farmer (he's also a lawyer who is suing ODEC. Ha! How's that for small town?).

Anyway, Saturday night he hosted us at his farm with a delicious dinner, fellowship, live bluegrass music, and some terrific campaign speeches. I also met a neighbor of his who invited us to insisted that we stop by his farm and help ourselves to as many organic raspberries as we could carry.

Seriously, Mayberry can't hold a candle to this place!

One of the blessings that has come of out this coal plant fight is the realization of many residents that our lack of participation in the local political process has allowed us to be in the position where our elected officials disregard us and we are not holding them accountable for their choices. So some folks have stepped up and are ready to jump right out of that frying pan and into the fire. God Bless, 'em!

 

And with campaign slogans like:

"Why the heck not?"

&

"I {heart} Surry"

I gotta say, I couldn't agree more.

I love this place.

I want to see these farmers succeed. I want to see the kind of small town community, politics, and commerce that once made this country great thrive again.  I want to see Mom & Pop stores on revitalized Main Streets.

And I really, really want to stay here until my kids are grown--coaching their kids on the same fields, buying delicious local produce from folks they've known their whole lives, and thanking their lucky stars that all those years ago a stinking coal plant got shot down in favor of something so. much. better.