Small Town Life Q+A Video
Today’s post is totally different from anything I’ve posted before!! And I’m really excited about it. 🙂
In my reader surveys, there have always been a lot of questions about our small town life and what it’s like living in a rural community. While I do mention some things about our life here on the blog, my emphasis hasn’t really been on small town life. More recently, I finally realized that many of you were still showing interest in this topic, so I asked you what other questions you had for us about living in a small rural town! We had some great responses and questions from Just Bee’s readers and friends on Instagram.
This time, instead of writing everything out in a lengthy blog post, Bjorn and I both sat down to answer your questions in a video!! He and I recorded this the other day while Sophie was asleep. It was fun to film, and even though we’re not video experts, we had a blast! (You can really tell, because we were both still grinning about some joke as we started to film, haha!)
Hope you enjoy the video! As always, we look forward to hearing your thoughts, and any further questions you may have for us — including if you’re interested in any future videos! Thanks for watching 🙂
** We may not have mentioned it in the video, but we currently live in a town of 600! We are also a 15 minute drive away from a town of 3,000, and a 40 minute drive away from a town of 10,000.
I loved this video! When we moved here, the hardest part was that we weren’t part of the community and no one knew our families. It was SO tough finding a house to rent because most landlords wanted to rent to locals (even though we put in every rental application that we’re an Army family being stationed here, the Army gives us a housing allowance on top of regular pay so we can afford to rent the house, listed numerous references, etc.) Finding a professional, non-entry level job was also tough since most of the “good” jobs here go to friends/acquaintances; I was fortunate to land my job fairly quickly, but it’s a drastic cut in both “pay grade”/skill level and actual pay. I guess those are just quirks of small-town life when you’re not local to the area, haha!
Andy’s job makes small town (small city, I suppose?) life tough since *everyone* in north Iowa recognizes him as “one of the Recruiters.” Practically every time we leave our house, we run into someone we know… and I’m sure more people that recognize Andy, but that we don’t actually know! (We *always* have to be on our best behavior since anything we do affects Recruiting.)
I’m *finally* making friends here, which has been a major blessing for me! We also really like our church as well. And the cheap movies are THE BEST! It’s like $6 for the LDX theater here which is cheaper than a “normal” movie back home.
This certainly isn’t our “forever home”, but we’re enjoying it as best as we can!
I’m so glad you liked the video, Bailey!! It was a totally new thing for us to do, but it felt like a good way for both of us to answer all the questions we’ve been asked! Maybe we’ll do some more in the future 🙂 I agree with what you said – a lot of people around here know each other and know their families (from generations back! often farming together or near each other). I think I’m lucky in a sense that Bjorn’s roots are here so he is already well-known and I could just “join in” once we got married, if you know what I mean.
And I can definitely relate to you feeling not anonymous, or feeling extra visible. It’s one of those things I’ve been getting used to over the years of living here. And now that my husband is the mayor of our town, everyone’s interest in us and our daily life feels piqued. I’ve gotten countless comments about stuff when I didn’t even realize people were watching! “Oh, my wife said she thought you looked pretty tired/pregnant (etc.) as you got home and got out of your car the other day!” Freaked me out a little at first, haha! (I mean, I grew up in the suburbs of the Twin Cities so I was used to neighbors, but it just feels a bit more around here!)
I’m glad you found a job you like! Sounds like a blessing! And it’s so nice to finally feel like you’re making friends! How cool that you guys have a cheap movie theater near you, too!! That makes date nights much more fun — and it’s a great incentive to go out more often! 🙂
Thanks again, Bailey, for watching the video and for taking the time to comment!! I’m glad you liked it!