By Roslyn Ryan
Editor

As I have noted before in these pages, I am what long-time residents refer to as a “Come Here,” meaning I didn’t grow up in Powhatan.
Admittedly, making the move from the city to the county didn’t come without a learning curve. No matter where you live, you take the good with the bad, and there are always trade-offs. But now, after nearly 10 years, I can’t imagine living anywhere else.

Last week, just for fun, I decided to take notes on a typical day, just to see how the inconveniences stacked up against the pleasures of country life. This was what I found:

7 a.m. Woke up, took the dog for a walk down by the lakes near my house. Thought about how nice it is to be able to enjoy nature without having to get in the car and go somewhere else (good).
9 a.m. Went to work, spent the bulk of the morning fielding calls and letters about, among other things, how Walmart will either help or destroy the fabric of our community (good– there are far worse things than a community that is concerned about its future).

11 a.m. Realized that I needed a birthday present for a friend – a specific birthday present that there was no way I was going to find here unless someone magically dropped a department store in the middle of the county. This would mean either finding a spare hour and a half to go to town or having to wait until the weekend to pick up the gift (not so good).

1 p.m. Got lunch, ran into recent Powhatan High School graduate Shawn Minor, who is well known throughout the county for being one of the most talented quarterbacks ever to play for the Indians. Considered how nice it is to live in a place where a young person can become a local celebrity for a doing something positive (good). 

5 :30 p.m. Realized on the way home that I needed a can of peas to go with what I planned to make for dinner and that the closest grocery store was 12 miles behind me (not so good). Pulled up to local convenience store. Had to wait in my car while a man attempted to corral a very large, not-quite-friendly-looking rooster that had gotten loose in the parking lot (not so good).

5:38 p.m. Exceedingly friendly store clerk threw in the dime I was short on the corn — and wished me a good day in a voice that sounded like he actually meant it (good).

6: 00 p.m. Got home, let the dog out into the nice big yard that she would never have if we lived in the city (good). Realized an hour later, when I let her back in, that somewhere in said yard she had found something dead and rolled around in it (not so good – but, admittedly, this could happen anywhere).

6:30 p.m. Finished making dinner, which included tomatoes I had grown myself –another thing I never would have attempted if I still lived in the city (good). 

9 p.m. Fell asleep to the sound of crickets outside (yes, very cliché, but also very, very good).

So there you have it; a fairly typical day in which the good parts of living in the country far outweighed the less good.

It takes a little planning – and sometimes a little patience – but it’s easy to see why most of us wouldn’t trade it for anything,