Life Near a Small City

The population of the city near where I live was 3,018 during the 2020 U.S. Census. It is growing yet much remains the same about small city life.

The grocery store will give you cash back, that is, unless it is early in the morning and they have not received any $20 bills in the till.

The clerk at the hardware store was reading the Cedar Rapids Gazette. I entered through the back entrance because the sidewalk in front is closed for repairs from high winds in 2023. They had what I needed.

The fire station is locked up tight as an all-volunteer force is working other jobs during the day.

A large tent was erected on the south edge of town where fireworks will be sold ahead of Independence Day.

The convenience stores are hopping with customers who service their addictions. They are the busiest places in the city most mornings.

What to make of this? It just is. The unseen parts of the city are more interesting.

A majority of residents commute to a job somewhere else.

Most everyone has high speed internet and everything that means.

Shopping with Amazon is so convenient it hits sales from Main Street stores like a bludgeon.

When we do need to buy something, the prices are much higher than in nearby larger cities.

Within city limits, housing stock turns over as quickly as a realtor hangs a sign.

It’s like one desultory stream of features that mean nothing unless one knows the people who live here. Maybe that’s the point. To know the city, know the people.