People in Middletown Love Me!!!

I have been in Middletown for about a year and a half and it almost feels like home…almost. Coming for a big city like Chicago it was hard for me to adjust. However, the people in my town embraced me. They played a tremendous role in helping me to adjust. Interesting enough, I met most of my friends on the local bus.

Riding the bus in a small town is an adventure!!! Things happened on our bus that would never happen in the city. For instance, back in the beginning of December the bus hit a deer! The bus driver thought the deer was a piece of cardboard. She didn’t realize it was a deer until we heard a loud thud. One lady started to cry because she felt sorry for the deer. I started thing think about how we as humans are infringing on the rights of animals by taking over land that once belonged to them. Apparently to the locals this wasn’t abnormal, because minutes later the bus driver simply reported the instance and we proceeded to our destinations.

The bus was also a means of social interaction. This included book swapping, loud talking, date catching, event planning, hair braiding, makeup wearing, cloths and shoes changing, and a host of other things. I have had so many funny conversations with people, from interracial dating, and eating Chinese food, to joining the Peace Corps and traveling. Sometimes I felt like I stuck out with my city cloths and styles; however I also felt like I fit right in because the commonality of being a human, with the same basic needs. Doesn’t that have to do with Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs or something? I remember this from the first semester in my grad program. Aha!!!! I did learn something. Maslow claims that we all have basic human needs that must be met these are physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and actualization. I guess I was getting my love/belonging need fulfilled because I met a lot of friends on the bus. My friends and I became “the Group” on the bus. It was great.

Our group consisted of single and divorced woman ranging from the age of 24 (me) to 65. Being the youngest in the group didn’t make me feel out of place at all. Most of my friends provided words of advice and encouragement that helped me “find my way in the world”. I also provided words of advice and encouragement to them. We usually tried to get together once a month for social outings. These ladies were and are the best. I will truly miss them! One woman in particular was so influential in my life that I felt like she was a second mother to me. She lived in Alaska for about 9 years completed a degree as an older adult and simply lived her life. She moved to Middletown about three years ago to be closer to her grandchildren.

She always had words of encouragement that helped me through difficult times on my job and at school. She is a Christian but she is still open to things that are different from her which is the way I am. This says a lot about her because she comes from a Pennsylvania Mennonite family. If you know anything about Mennonites they are sort of like cousins to the Amish i.e. very strict in their beliefs. Although she was open to try different things her faith was not compromised. It is funny how God operated to place her in my life. By meeting this woman I felt God was telling me it’s ok to be me! I am very independent, liberal, and a Christian.

I am going to miss my friends here!

From inside the bus,

Crystal