Back Story
Amenities or country – Seems that’s a choice you have to make in these parts. Our charming little town has never seen much action beyond a country music artist on the way up or on the way down, at the county fair or the long-ago scandalous hoochi-coochie girls at the annual carnival. Yet they tell us now that amenities are important. Hmmm.
Get Close to Amenities
Where do you live? Does it make you happy? A new survey reported by The Atlantic says that living within a short radius of amenities can change your life.
Live near facilities like parks, libraries, coffee shops, and gyms and you’ll do better, according to the report. Best is being no more than 15 minutes away.
This study is of particular interest here in the Shenandoah Valley, where there is concern about isolation, especially among the elderly in outlying rural areas.
Living closer to amenities encourages social interaction. More access to all-important low-stakes friendships. Neighbors tend to trust each other more and folks become more involved in local activities.
Bill and I lived for years at the foot of the mountain in Toms Brook. We loved the ten-mile trip to Woodstock along Back Road. Incredible mountainscapes everywhere, but no amenities.
Recently, we moved to a small, charming community just off Hisey Road. As Bill says, we’re now three minutes away from a hamburger. It’s convenient. We like it. We sure did not realize, however, that the move was actually adding to our happiness.
Hope you, too, are close to game night at the courthouse, poker at the Moose Lodge, Rotary meetings at the Brew House, and weekly non-profit fund-raisers, so you too can enjoy the amenities of life in our beautiful Shenandoah Valley.
P.S. Still sound like we’re lacking the gourmet restaurants, concerts with $500 tickets and nights on the town? For those of us retired from the fast track, we’ve been there, done that. Your turn.